McVities Flood Defence Project
Following flooding in December 2015, Story designed and installed flood alleviation measures at the McVities factory in Carlisle.
Pladis Global
£2m
Carlisle, Cumbria
20 weeks
The overarching concept of the project was to prevent the ingress of flood water onto the factory campus. The main scope of works included:
- Construction of a perimeter retaining wall modelled at a height expected in a 200-year storm
- Installation of all associated flood defence and flood control measures
- Installation of dam boards and flood gates
- Construction of pumping stations
- Installation of non-return valves on all drainage
- Diversion and relocation of all mains services including water, waste water, gas and BT
- Location and sealing of all drains, ducts and other penetrations into the factory
The Story proactive and open book approach gave the customer the confidence that the scheme was affordable and as a consequence the works were instructed and progressed in advance of a full and complete design.
This meant that works could commence on critical activities in advance of cost certainty and allowed the consulting engineers to concentrate on getting construction status information split into the individual packages and not on getting tender status information prepared for the whole.
Story then constructed the works in a packaged and logical sequence and started works on site significantly sooner than would have been possible under a traditional procurement strategy.
To allow the Design consultants to concentrate and focus on releasing construction status information we divided the scheme into wall types and requested a release of information aligned to the construction critical path.
By allowing the designer to concentrate on producing packaged construction status information in a practical and methodical manner, commercial teams could confirm budgets against a master cost plan and the project progressed in a controlled manner. Stage one defences were completed within the timescales and insurance for the premises was secured.
Retaining wall modelled at a height expected in a 200-year storm
Officially flood resilient as of 1st December 2016
I’m delighted to report the site was secured before our very challenging target (that a lot of people thought was impossible), thus ensuring the future protection of the site. This could not have been achieved without the close working relationship we formed with Story Contracting. A great example of collaborative team working.
Jonathan Cruse
Pladis Global
Find out how we can help you
To find out more about how we can help you deliver your project contact Gareth Jones on 01228 590444.