CASE STUDY
Newport Southern Distributor Road: Construction & Maintenance PFI
Extracted from:
The Newport Southern Distributor Road - a 9.5 km road around the south of the city - was funded under a 40-year PFI contract for construction and maintenance. The project involved upgrading stretches of existing single carriageway into dual carriageway, and constructing new carriageway, plus a new bridge across the River Usk.
During the pre-commencement phase, construction, and design, environmental and procurement teams combined to maximise the use of project derived excavated materials. Opportunities were also sought to utilise locally available recycled materials, including by-products of the heavy industry historically located in the area.
As well as complying with a high technical specification, the materials used had to meet strict environmental guidelines. The environmental considerations were imposed as conditions of the planning permission from the Local Planning Authority to protect the local environment, in particular the ecologically sensitive River Usk: a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Candidate Special Area of Conservation. Blastfurnace slag, recycled asphalt, recycled concrete aggregate and steel slag were all used as granular fill materials and unbound subbase.
Because of the large scale of the project (£55 million), potential suppliers sought out the project team and offered their materials. These included spent railway ballast, Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA), crushed demolition waste cleared from site, road planings, steel furnace slag and blast furnace slag.
Of the 464,000 tonnes of aggregate required, the project team was able to acquire and use 444,000 tonnes of recycled and secondary aggregate, at a direct cost saving of approximately £1 million. This saving was from lower materials costs, transportation costs and site waste disposal charges.
Associated case study:
Performance of recycled and secondary aggregates in the construction of the Newport Southern Distributor Road
- The Big Picture. Specifying recycled in local authority contracts for highways maintenance: Good practice. WRAP.
- Opportunities to use recycled materials in preliminary building works and civil engineering: Quick Wins Guide, WRAP.
The Newport Southern Distributor Road - a 9.5 km road around the south of the city - was funded under a 40-year PFI contract for construction and maintenance. The project involved upgrading stretches of existing single carriageway into dual carriageway, and constructing new carriageway, plus a new bridge across the River Usk.
During the pre-commencement phase, construction, and design, environmental and procurement teams combined to maximise the use of project derived excavated materials. Opportunities were also sought to utilise locally available recycled materials, including by-products of the heavy industry historically located in the area.
As well as complying with a high technical specification, the materials used had to meet strict environmental guidelines. The environmental considerations were imposed as conditions of the planning permission from the Local Planning Authority to protect the local environment, in particular the ecologically sensitive River Usk: a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Candidate Special Area of Conservation. Blastfurnace slag, recycled asphalt, recycled concrete aggregate and steel slag were all used as granular fill materials and unbound subbase.
Because of the large scale of the project (£55 million), potential suppliers sought out the project team and offered their materials. These included spent railway ballast, Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA), crushed demolition waste cleared from site, road planings, steel furnace slag and blast furnace slag.
Of the 464,000 tonnes of aggregate required, the project team was able to acquire and use 444,000 tonnes of recycled and secondary aggregate, at a direct cost saving of approximately £1 million. This saving was from lower materials costs, transportation costs and site waste disposal charges.
Associated case study:
Performance of recycled and secondary aggregates in the construction of the Newport Southern Distributor Road
