Kingsway Central Reservation Redevelopment, Widnes – Case Study

Brett called in to work on key infrastructure project

Project: Kingsway Central Reservation Redevelopment, Widnes
Client: Halton Borough Council
Product: Trief Cadet GST1A & Trief GST2A
Size: 2km of Trief Cadet GST1A & Trief GST2A supplied

Brett Landscaping kerbs used throughout significant upgrade of major traffic route.

Halton Borough Council had an easy decision to make in choosing Brett Landscaping to work on a key infrastructure project.

The local authority, which covers Widnes and Runcorn in Cheshire, asked for Brett by name as they knew that they needed workable solutions for one of the busiest roads in the borough.

Working with Lambros Paving Contractors, Brett was also able to offer specialist advice before and during installation at the Kingsway Central Reservation Redevelopment in Widnes. The project was to rebuild and renovate a dual carriageway’s central reservation. The reservation, which featured low-level walls retaining grass verges, was showing signs of damage. The old low-level walls of the central reservation had crumbled and weathered due to a combination of weathering and rainwater pressure behind the wall.

The new design provided drainage points along the wall to relieve the hydrostatic pressure which had caused the original walls to fail. The drainage holes were cored through the Trief kerbs, relieving hydrostatic pressure by allowing the rainwater to pass through and drain into gullies in the carriageway.

New kerbs were also needed to provide protection to the maintenance teams mowing the central verge and this offered many benefits to the project. The previous design meant that a lane in each direction was closed to traffic, with the associated traffic management costs and inconvenience, while the teams worked on the verge. The kerbs also needed to be at different levels on either side of the verge to accommodate the existing grass verge level. To solve both of these challenges Brett’s Trief kerbs were used. Trief GST2A units were used on the lower carriageway and Trief Cadet GST1A on the upper to level the central verge. Access points were built in so that the lanes could remain live and access was designed at each end of the verge runs to enable the mowers to move from one part of the verge to the next.

Jamie Gledhill, National Specification Sales Manager for Brett Landscaping, said:

“Halton Council specified Trief by name because the level of impact protection provided by the units couldn’t be matched by other suppliers. Halton had also worked with Brett before and had confidence in our service as well as our high quality products.

The thorough impact testing that is carried out on the kerbs provides added confidence and we were able to offer design support. Our design team produced details for the construction of the access points, several variants were provided for Halton to choose their preferred option. We also advised on the core holed units and how many should be used in a run as well as the transition between the GST2A and GST1A and where these should be positioned.”

Around two kilometres of Trief Cadet GST1A and Trief GST2A straight kerbs and components were used in the project. Due to the limited stocking area on site timely scheduled deliveries were organised to provide the client with the most cost effective and workable solution on site for the contractors.