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Transport Secretary marks completion of road improvement scheme

Transport Secretary marks completion of road improvement scheme

The Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin MP, Secretary of State for Transport, visited the £10m A164 Humber Bridge to Beverley Route Improvement Scheme this week to mark its completion. Constructed by Jackson, this project was one of 35 transport schemes approved by the government back in 2011, in a bid to boost the ailing economy, and provide a much needed cash-injection into the construction industry.
A164 Completion Pan webRes

Constructed by Jackson, this project was one of 35 transport schemes approved by the government back in 2011, in a bid to boost the ailing economy, and provide a much needed cash-injection into the construction industry.

he project began in spring 2012 and was designed to reduce congestion, particularly at peak intervals, and improve traffic flows for up to 35,000 vehicles using the road each day. As well as the installation of a section 1.5km of dual carriageway Jackson also reconfigured four roundabouts and constructed lengths of new footpath/ cycleway.Construction began in Spring 2012, and was unfortunately dogged by poor weather conditions throughout both the Summer and Winter months. Despite the bad weather, the project was completed without delay.

Mr McLoughlin said: "First and foremost I'd like to congratulate Jackson for doing such a great job. Schemes like this were part of the case I made to the Chancellor for the local pinch-point funding, which is £70m this year, and £100m next year. They can be delivered very quickly, and make a huge impact, so for a £10m total spend here, we've improved one of the key traffic arteries in this area.

"These types of programmes show the Government's commitment to improving people's lives and giving our regional economies a real boost."

Adam Tuke, Contracts Director at Jackson Civil Engineering said: "We are really proud to have delivered this scheme on time, despite battling with the weather over the past 12 months. It's also reassuring to hear that the  Government is taking investment in the UK's infrastructure seriously, not only because it boosts local economies, but also because it provides a boost to the construction industry in these difficult economic times."

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Halfway to Killamarsh

Halfway to Killamarsh

Heroes from Region 2 battled through six inches of heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures on the coldest weekend in February 2012 to install two footbridges over a railway and the River Rother in Sheffield.

The operation included a full rail closure, so the team had to complete the job on time in order to reopen the railway on Monday morning. The bridges formed part of a pedestrian footpath and cyclepath constructed for Sheffield City Council. The contract was worth £1.1m.

The work attracted a small crowd of onlookers on Sunday morning and the professionalism of the guys on site led one woman to call Head Office the next morning to congratulate Jackson on doing such a wonderful job! Well done to all the guys involved.

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The site team includes (from left): Craig Chatham (General Operative), Ben Burnham (General Operative), Ian Maudsley (Senior Engineer), Craig Hardy (Project Manager), Kevin Chatham (General Foreman), Sam Blewett (Industrial Placement), and Paul Baldwyn (Senior Engineer)

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Yougsters get an introduction to Civil Engineering

Yougsters get an introduction to Civil Engineering

Pupils from Stanley Drapkin School in Steeple Bumpstead were given an introduction to Civil Engineering yesterday when they were visited by Engineers from Jackson along with The Environment Agency and the construction industry mascot Ivor Goodsite.

Jackson is currently working to build new flood defences in Steeple Bumpstead for the Environment Agency, and representatives from both parties visited the school along with Ivor Goodsite to give an assembly to 200 pupils. The assembly involved an introduction to the flood defence project, and also raised pupils awareness to the dangers of playing on or near construction sites.

Steeple Bumpstead School Site Visit 25032013

Pupils from Year 5 were then split into two groups; one half taking part in an art competition, and the other half carrying out an engineering challenge. The engineering challenge involved designing and building a model aqueduct out of plastic sheets, dowel and string, to supply a town with drinking water following an earthquake which had cut off the town's supply. The aim of the challenge was to give the pupils an awareness of engineering, and teach them about basic engineering principles.

Mary Nicholls, Head Teacher said: ‘We are very grateful to Jackson and the Environment Agency for working with our school yesterday. The children came away with two very clear messages; They know about health and safety issues around construction sites and also about the important role of civil engineering. We all enjoyed meeting the builder, Ivor Goodsite!’

Engineers from Jackson often visit schools in the areas close to projects to teach children about Civil Engineering. Steve Balliston, Regional Engineer said: “We think it’s really important to get involved with local schools to educate the engineers of the future. The UK currently has a shortage of engineers so by educating and encouraging students early on, we hope to inspire them to consider engineering as a career.”


For more information about our work with schools, or to request a visit please send an email to enquiries@jackson-civils.co.uk

Work begins on A19/A63 Barlby Junction

Work begins on A19/A63 Barlby Junction

Jackson recently started work to improve the A19/A63 junction at Barlby in North Yorkshire. The junction is currently a staggered cross-road that has become an accident black-spot, with hazardous right hand turns. The A19 carries over 33,000 vehicles along this stretch each day, and therefore North Yorkshire Council have enlisted Jackson to reconfigure the junction and construct a roundabout, to make the junction safer, and to reduce traffic queues.

The project programme is 22 weeks, however, the majority of the work will be carried out under a 10 week road closure. Regional Manager Andy Burton explains: "It's quite unusual for a council to grant a full road closure for this amount of time on a busy junction, however, we both felt that it would be the safest way to do things both for our workforce and the general public."

The team, which could include up to 30 people at peak times, will be working seven days a week to get the job done. The road closure has reduced the project programme quite significantly and the team hopes to get the majority of the work completed before the road re-opens in mid May.

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Rye Harbour wins 'Efficiency' Award

Rye Harbour wins 'Efficiency' Award

Jackson has won the Environment Agency's Efficiency Award for the work they did on the Rye Harbour Western Training Wall Project, a £9m scheme to re-build the harbour wall in Rye, East Sussex. Delivered 11% under the approved budget, through collaboration and early engagement with the supply chain, the team managed to save over £970k on the project.

The wall plays a vital role, not only in keeping the channel open and thus supporting the multi-million pound economy that relies on Rye Harbour, but also by protecting the adjacent nature reserve which is a SSSI, Special Protection Area and proposed Ramsar site. An inspection of the wall in 2011 revealed it was in a very poor state, so the decision was taken to fast-track the scheme. Due to the urgent nature of the works, the team devised a reduced project programme which involved running the design and construction phases concurrently to save time. Construction of the new 1.5km sheet piled wall began in January 2012, four months after the project's inception, and was completed in December.

Throughout the project the team worked hard to drive down costs, but significant savings were made on two main aspects; the sheet piles, which accounted for almost a third of the entire project cost, and the haul road.

 

An impressive 4,625 tonnes of sheet piles were required for this project, but by testing the market, the team was able to negotiate a reduction of £100 per tonne with the Environment Agency's sheet pile supplier, which resulted in a saving of £500k. Furthermore, instead of having them shipped to the pile supplier's depot in Shoreham, and then transported to site via road, the team managed to negotiate and get the piles sailed directly to Rye Harbour, where they could be unloaded onto the wharf, thus greatly reducing vehicle movements in Rye, and also reducing CO2.

 

An extensive temporary access track also had to be constructed over the existing dilapidated access track along the length of the wall to provide a working platform for the construction plant. By negotiating with the materials supplier, the team was able to hire 15,000 tonnes of type 1 fill material to use on the access track, which could be retuned to the supplier at the end of the job, which saved £100k and drastically reduced the amount of waste.

By engaging with the supply chain and working together, the Rye project team achieved significant savings on the project's programme and budget.

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Jackson completes UK's largest inland flood defence scheme

Jackson completes UK's largest inland flood defence scheme

Jackson has successfully completed work on the £51m Nottingham Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme, which was officially opened in September by the new Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, and Lord Chris Smith, Chairman of the Environment Agency. This is the largest inland flood defence scheme ever constructed, and has reduced the risk of flooding to 16,000 homes and businesses along a 27Km stretch of the River Trent from Sawley to Colwick. Furthermore, the project was successfully delivered by the Jackson team three months early, and £6m under budget.

 

Project Manager Steve Palmer said: "It feels good to know that this project has had an impact on so many peoples' lives and livelihoods, by ensuring the risk of flooding is no longer a major issue for Nottingham. The whole site team did a fantastic job for the Environment Agency, and delivering the scheme early, and significantly under budget is testament to all their hard work."

Jackson began construction in June 2009 along the left bank of the river. The route of the defence stretched across Nottingham travelling through the city centre, past the iconic War Memorial, alongside the railway line, and also through Attenborough Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). This wide variety of different working environments posed significant construction challenges, however innovation, and value engineering has been prevalent throughout the three year construction programme.

The most significant innovation on this project was the use of a Trenchmix machine. Used for the first time in the UK to construct a flood defence, Trench-mix is a new technique whereby the original ground is mixed with cementitious grout to form an impermeable barrier, in situ without the use of traditional deep excavation methods. This technique took only three weeks, opposed to five months that it would have taken to construct conventional steel sheet piles, saving the taxpayer £650,000 in the process.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: "What's really exciting about this scheme is the impact it has had on the city of Nottingham. Not only has it protected 16,000 homes and businesses, but it has now also freed up 500 acres of land, previously blighted by flooding, that can be developed by the private sector, to create jobs and wealth for Nottingham. Congratulations to the Environment Agency and Jackson for delivering it under budget, and three months early."

We're finally allowed to talk about...

We're finally allowed to talk about...

Until now, Jackson, along with many other contractors, has had to keep very quiet about its involvement in the construction of the Olympic Games. Understandably, the organisers wanted to ensure their official sponsors were guaranteed exclusivity, but now The Games are over, it's high time we let everyone know just how involved we were, and how proud we are as a company to have been part of it.

Jackson was responsible for no less than seven projects for the Olympic Games, the largest being the civils infrastructure for the Water Polo Venue, on the Olympic Park in Stratford. This included roads, drainage and structural concrete up to formation level. The plan was to carry out this work in three phases, however, the team started on the second phase in July 2011, and ended up working right through to the start of the games. Site Agent Colin Rowe said: "We thought we'd have some breaks in between the construction phases, but there was so much to do on the site, we managed to pick up extra work, and ended up staying on site for almost twelve months."

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In addition to the Waterpolo works, Colin and his team also did the earthworks for the warm-up track, and installed a 'Bit Fall' fountain, which was one of two large scale water features installed on the park. Created by German Artist Julius Popp, the fountain consists of five waterfalls which create a continuous cascade of words, formed by hundreds of water droplets. The words are chosen at random from live news feeds by specialist software developed by Popp.

Off the park, Jackson was involved in various infrastructure projects to improve access to games venues including Coventry Stadium, Eton Dorney Rowing Lake, The ExCel Exhibition Centre and Park and Ride facilities across the South of England.

The most exciting of these projects was the floating walkway which was designed and constructed by Jackson to carry Olympic spectators across the Royal Docks to the ExCel Exhibition Centre in London. The unique design was made up of floating steel shipping containers, filled with polystyrene to provide the floatation. The containers were linked together and anchored at various points across the dock, and a 15m centre section was designed to move aside in order to let marine traffic pass through. The top of the containers were covered with a layer of polythene before a 125mm concrete walking surface was poured on top. This polythene layer will allow easy removal of the concrete, which means that the entire structure can be recycled in the future, when the walkway is decommissioned. The unique design of the pontoon is a first class example of innovative engineering, and the project has been nominated for the Constructing Excellence award for Innovation.

So there you have it...Jackson's construction contribution to London 2012. Granted, our projects weren't as high profile as building the Olympic Stadium or the aquatics centre, but for a medium sized, independently owned civil engineering firm, we certainly did ourselves proud.

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60th Anniversary Mini-Apprentice Scheme

60th Anniversary Mini-Apprentice Scheme

Three youngsters have been given the opportunity of a lifetime having taken part in a Jackson's  civil engineering work experience programme, designed to get young people back in to work, which was run to mark Jackson's 60th Anniversary.

The programme, run loosely around BBC 1's 'The Apprentice' was designed to give a group of young people the opportunity to experience the Civil Engineering industry at first hand, and give them a solid block of work experience to put on their CV's.

 

The trainees were assigned a personal mentor each, and given weekly engineering tasks to complete. Their performance was monitored throughout the programme by a panel of judges, and a full time apprenticeship was available for the most promising trainee at the end of the programme. However, the standard of the trainees was so incredibly high, that three of the five participants have been given full time jobs by Jackson Civil Engineering, the company running the scheme.

The official winner, Ross Hardwick, 21, from Hull has been taken on as a trainee engineer and will be sponsored through higher education to become a qualified Civil Engineer. He said: "This opportunity has been the break I needed to get into civil engineering. Getting a job where I live is really difficult, especially for young people. Taking part in the work experience programme, and then being chosen for the job seems like the best thing that's ever happened to me and I can't wait to start full time, as a Trainee Engineer."

In addition, Freddie Bateman, 18 from Oxfordshire, has been taken on as a trainee engineer, and Michael Garrod, 17, from Ipswich, has been taken on as a trainee ground worker. All three were previously unemployed, but looking to get into civil engineering.

One of the judges, ICE Council member Steven Balliston said: "The Civil Engineering industry needs bright and enthusiastic young engineers to develop and maintain our environment for future generations. This apprentice scheme gave us the opportunity to give something back to the community and give these young people a chance they may not have otherwise had. I'm confident that the two engineering winners of the scheme will qualify as Civil Engineers, create their own legacy, and eventually become TMICE members of the Institution."

The UK currently has a shortage of graduates in the core STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects, and the industry will need 100,000 new graduates in these subjects every year, in order to maintain current numbers. Steve said: "Working as an ICE Ambassador and STEM facilitator, it was so refreshing to work with a group of young potential engineers on this project and be reassured that our future is in safe hands."

Jackson starts work on £10m highways scheme

Jackson starts work on £10m highways scheme

Jackson began work on a £10 million road improvement scheme yesterday on the A164 in East Riding. The long-awaited Humber Bridge to Beverley Improvement Scheme will involve dualling the eight mile stretch of existing carriageway and reconfiguring the roundabouts to provide two-lane entry and exits. Improvements will also be made to the pedestrian and cycling facilities along the route.

Jackson will be working on behalf of East Riding of Yorkshire Council which has contributed £2.3 million to the scheme. The remainder of the funding was provided and approved by central Government following a visit last month by Justine Greening MP, Secretary of State for Transport.

This scheme will significantly reduce traffic congestion along the route which is the busiest in East Riding and used by over 35,000 vehicles each day. Stephen Parnaby, Leader of the Council said: 'When completed next year, this scheme will make a huge difference to both commuters and the travelling public in East Riding and will also provide a timely boost to the local economy.'

Regional Manager, Andy Burton said: 'Jackson is delighted to be involved with this scheme which will not only improve transport infrastructure in the area but also help to safeguard jobs in the construction industry. We hope to use the local supply chain wherever possible, and we've also recruited a local apprentice to work on the scheme.'

Swing Bridge installed on Norfolk Broads

Swing Bridge installed on Norfolk Broads

A unique floating swing bridge has been installed by Jackson to improve access to the isolated Heigham Holmes Nature Reserve. Because access to the reserve is only required a few times a year, the bridge has been designed to be stored parallel with the river when not in use, thus keeping the river clear for navigation.

The steel bridge deck is mounted on two floatation tanks and was manufactured locally in Norwich, allowing it to be delivered as single completed unit. It was launched into the river at Hickling Broad using a 70 tonne crane, before being floated one mile upstream to its resting place at Martham.

Jackson has worked closely with the National Trust throughout the project to reduce the impact on both the local community and wildlife. The majority of the heavy construction work was carried out away from the river, and piling works were sequenced to coincide with the end of the holiday season and ahead of the arrival of over-wintering birds.

Paul Coleman, National Trust building surveyor, said: "Heigham Holmes is a wonderful nature reserve and part of its charm lies in its peaceful isolation, so ensuring the site had suitable and safe access was a big part of the challenge. Working with Jackson, we have achieved this, and managed to preserve the identity of this unique place."

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