Coventry Road, Cawston

Brief Description of Works

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The works were amendments to the existing highway to install a new access point and a ghost island right turn facility for access to a new housing development. The works included the construction of a new combined footway/cycleway from the Cawston roundabout to the pedestrian crossing on the west side of Bilton.

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Works activities included

• Traffic Management

• Site clearance

• Drainage

• Ductwork

• Earthworks

• Carriageway pavement and surfacing

• Kerbing/edgings

• Footway/Cycleway construction

• Street Lighting

• Traffic Signs

• Road Markings

 

Unforeseen Issues

The scheme which was originally programmed for 18 weeks became significantly extended to 23 weeks due to fundamental design changes introduced as the works proceeded. These included:

• Protection to underground apparatus (Water, Gas, Electric and Telecoms)

• Highway drainage

• Cycleway construction specification change from impermeable to permeable

• Power supply to streetlighting

 

The above additional works were completely unforeseen by the client at tender stage and were therefore added under the Contract’s compensation Events mechanism. Due to the fundamental nature of these works, the challenge became one of managing the changes whilst maintaining progress on site. Flexible working became critical to the success of the scheme because of the adverse effect these issues had on both the highway users and the developer’s site access. Both of these matters were efficiently and successfully managed and any adverse impact on the scheme was regarded by all parties as mitigated.

McVeigh Construction carries out all contracts using directly employed skilled operatives and minimises the use of subcontracted labour to ensure a consistent high performance. This also enabled the flexibility and adaptability described above to be achieved.

The success of this contract which was openly acknowledged by the Project manager and WCC Overseeing Organisation was due to approachable, transparent and cooperative way in which McVeigh Construction operates on all such schemes.

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