Derby Road Upgrade – Case Study

Yorktone helps bring Nottingham streets back to life.

Project: Derby Road Upgrade
Client: Nottingham City Works Department
Product: Yorktone

Furthering its reputation for supplying Local Authorities with high quality hard landscaping materials, Brett Landscaping has been involved with Nottingham City Council in providing appropriate paving for restoration schemes citywide, including outside Pugin’s St. Barnabas Cathedral. In the City Centre, Brett has supplied materials for redeveloping two highway facilities – one on Derby Road – serving the Augustus Pugindesigned Nottingham Cathedral Church of St Barnabas, as well as the centrally located Heathcote Street. At Derby Road, 3,500m2 of indigenous Fens Moss Yorkstone flag paving has been supplied by Brett and laid to replace the existing, degenerated concrete, with supply management for the project overseen by Kevin Jones, who explains what was required, provided, and successfully achieved with the help of Brett and its materials: “The original footpath was in need of replacement, creating an ideal opportunity for a new hard-landscaping design to be implemented; one which would be an aesthetic improvement as well as a mechanism to offer priority to buses and pedestrians.” “Fens Moss seemed a sound choice for the heritage area installation and was favoured by Nottingham City Council for, among other reasons, its fine-grain and colour palette of predominantly blue and grey with elements of buff, which together form an attractive alternative to the original concrete.” Kevin goes on to explain how it was essential to keep the refurbishment of the sizeable area within budgetary constraints. To this end, Brett were able to offer the Council planners a highly competitive costings breakdown which led to the Fens Moss product not only being considered the most aesthetic, but also a highly cost effective, solution.

Adam Sherratt, Senior Engineer, Highway & Energy Infrastructure at Nottingham City Works Department adds to the points made by Kevin, by saying: “We’re extremely satisfied with the aesthetics of the paving style Brett has supplied. However, it’s the robust construction combined with manufacturing quality that gives the paving a promise of longevity and return on investment. “We regard regeneration work, such as that completed on Derby Road, as essential to maintaining a vibrant, safe and functioning City Centre, so making sound choices with relation to materials that are purposefully designed to perform for years-to-come is a key consideration and one relevant to the second urban project that involved supply from Brett, at Heathcote Street.”

Here, a carriageway which experiences heavy vehicular use and footfall was chosen for regeneration, and refurbished using 1200m2 of the same Fens Moss Yorkstone paving; once again presenting an attractive alternative to the concrete which was there before. The results have delivered significant improvement as Kevin explains that: “Laying the paving, in conjunction with specialist flush kerbing, has achieved a more level and open highway system, and as such, a better facility for both vehicles and pedestrians.” Similarly, price point and project cost have been key factors to the project’s success, and areas where Brett delivered on expectation. “We’re delighted with the outcome of the City Centre hard landscaping works, and anticipate seeing the paving perform in situ for years to come.”