Queen's Drive, Exmouth

Completed a week early, the project comprised the construction of a new 350m long carriageway together with a 123-space car park on Exmouth seafront. The newly constructed highway diverts traffic away from the seafront promenade so that the public can access the beach and water park without crossing the road.

The works included:

• Site clearance including demolition of an existing retaining wall, beach hut and blockwork shelter and tree clearance
• Bulk earthworks to carriageway and car park construction
• Temporary works in the existing car park and removal of the existing car park for future development of a Water Park
• Deep drainage gullies, infiltration trenches, adjustment of existing manholes, construction of new chambers and drainage kerbs
• Diversion of utilities
• Full carriageway construction and construction of new pavement, kerbs, footways and masonry wall
• Installation of new street lighting, parking meters, signage and landscaping works

Part of the scheme required realigning the existing carriageway with full reconstruction, with the exception of tie-ins, requiring excavation and the disposal of the existing asphalt. We carried out core test sampling at an early stage which confirmed that 90% of the existing asphalt for plane out contained coal tar.

Using our technical capability and experience gained from similar schemes we were able to identify the layers containing coal tar and plane off and dispose of uncontaminated material as a separate operation. We also increased the finished road levels in a large section of the works by constructing the pavement on top of the existing layer.

We provided the designers with options for adjustments to the new road levels to minimise the volume of hazardous materials that would have to be removed and taken to tip. This provided the client with a value engineering solution which accounted for a 50% reduction in contaminated material being removed from site.

We identified and advised on a number of potential opportunities for improvements to the drainage which would reduce future maintenance costs. We also suggested alternative systems to mitigate the sand blowing from the beach and causing maintenance issues to the drainage gullies.

The design changes and a £0.2m increase to our scope of works meant that the planned date for road closures to tie-in the realigned highway coincided with the May Bank holiday. We subsequently revised our programme and work sequencing to maintain vehicle access to car parks at all times over this period to mitigate loss of trade for local businesses.

The entire works area lies on a reclaimed beach, so ground conditions were poor and without any substantial topsoil. After removal of topsoil, our site team avoided any quality issues and associated delay by ensuring that the formation level was not compromised prior to

installing the permanent works by immediately covering and protecting the underlying sand formation from the elements.

During the contract we discovered rare coastal grasses unique to the area and in close consultation with Natural England, we successfully translocated 1000m² of protected grass and dunes (turves with their root systems intact) to other areas within the site boundary and to a prepared receptor site further along the seafront. Another further area of 500m² was prepared for later translocation and for use as a seed bank.