Harbour Way Project

87.9%

Whole Project Award

Project Team
Client: Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council
Designers: Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, Arup
Constructor: Costain

Project summary Harbour Way is the final stage of the Port Talbot Peripheral Distributor Road. Works required the construction of 4.8 km of dual carriageway plus side roads, five bridges and two new entrances into the Tata steelworks. Approval of the £107m route was granted in 2010 following support from the Welsh Government and European Regional Development Fund Convergence programme. The Project provides an access route from the M4 Junction 38, into Port Talbot and the Docks. It connects with previously completed stages linking into the area to M4 Junction 42 and provides a vital link into West Wales. Planned Benefits The Harbour Way will achieve the following objectives:

• Provide access for the regeneration of areas designated for development, including 210 hectares of mainly ‘brownfield’ land. These areas will become available for development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other industry creating employment opportunities and regeneration in Port Talbot.

• Improve access to Port Talbot Docks and Deep Water Harbour, creating opportunities to transfer freight from road to sea.

• Support the creation of new job opportunities and key services through investment regeneration and improvements to the regional strategic transport infrastructure.

• Reduce congestion and carbon emissions on the M4.

• Provide better access to public transport, especially rail, through interconnectivity with the main ‘Great Western’ route at Port Talbot Parkway Station and the proposed ‘park and ride’ facility.

• Create an attractive gateway to improve the towns image and encouraging investment.

• Provide a cycle route linking to the national cycle route network.
  

Collaborative working

At the start of the early contractor involvement (ECI) period the integrated Project Team, including the Client (NPTCBC), Costain, Arup and key supply-chain partners, was set up and initially brought together in a partnering workshop where the Project Charter was produced detailing our Vision, Values and Objectives. This set out the commitment to deliver the project.

The Integrated Team members were co-located in an open plan office, from the start of the ECI period with project specific branding developed at an early stage to reinforce the “one team” approach to delivering the Project, breaking down barriers between the individual parties forming Harbour Way Team.

The integrated Project Team had to deliver a technically challenging and sustainable project involving extensive liaison with multiple stakeholders including Tata, Network Rail, Natural Resources Wales and local residents.

The site runs through redundant sections of the Port Talbot Steelworks which led to new access roads into the steelworks being constructed. Collaboration was essential between parties to ensure minimal disruption to the operation of the steelworks. A Steering Management Team was established at the outset to focus on key interface areas including security, the diversion of services and the protection of services critical to the steel manufacture process.

The team also worked closely with Network Rail. A new 150m long bridge had to be constructed to replace the existing bridge which, apart from being a main access into the steelworks, spanned the main Swansea to London railway. The construction required the realignment of almost 1km of track, diversion of communication and power cables and demolition of the old bridge. The work had to be carried out during weekend possessions and overnight in close proximity to residential properties. The bridge was constructed in two halves whilst maintaining access to the steelworks.

The route of the Scheme passed through an area that was grossly contaminated with hydrocarbons (a legacy of the historic workings and heavy industry in the area). The remediation strategy, which was developed in close liaison with Natural Resources Wales, involved phased excavations over several areas, including the site of an historical coke washery and blast furnace.

Grossly contaminated soil was treated using stabilisation and solidification. All contaminated soils encountered were retained on site and used as fill material in the construction of the road embankment; thereby reducing the volume of import required and avoiding the need for any off-site disposal.

Before construction could begin 4.5km of reptile fencing was erected throughout the site. Over 1800 reptiles were translocated to two new receptor sites.

Areas of grassland identified as Small Blue Butterfly (a UK BAP species) habitat were translocated before construction works started and additional replacement habitat has been provided along the scheme corridor which will also provide value for bees, birds, foraging bats, reptiles and other invertebrates.

Over 15,200 new trees and shrubs have been planted. Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) was incorporated into the drainage design with planting schemes in swales and ponds to provide aquatic and semi-aquatic habitat.

Material Use

To deliver as sustainable a scheme as possible the site team used various strategies to maximise resource efficiency, minimise off-site disposal and to incorporate sustainable materials into the works. The road is built on embankment which required around 380,000 m3 of material, the majority of which comprises secondary aggregates:

• Processed demolition waste - 35,000m3
• Site won material - 84,000m3
• Blast Furnace slag (Bi-product from steel manufacture) - 220,000m3
• Remediation of contaminated ground - 9,000m3
  

The blast furnace slag was sourced from within the Port Talbot Steelworks, significantly reducing the schemes carbon footprint and avoiding the transport of thousands of vehicle movements on the local road network.

85% of existing structures were demolished and processed on site for re-use. An additional
19000 tonnes of waste materials from other projects were imported under the control of an environmental permit.

Over 99% of site won material was either recycled or re-used on site.

Other sustainable materials used include:

FoamMaster Roadbase – 13,000m3 ‘Foam Master’ - cold recycled bitumen bound material which consists primarily of recycled asphalt and is processed under the WRAP protocol. This is a 95% sustainable system which utilises road arisings and other secondary aggregates to produce base course.

Pre-cast elements – the use of precast units was promoted to ease construction, improve safety and quality, reduce the carbon footprint and reduce wastage of raw materials on site. Elements included:

• Drainage
• Arch bridge units
• Reinforced earth panels
• Concrete parapet units.

Energy and Carbon

During operation of the scheme, the main energy and carbon footprint savings has been delivered through the choice of materials and components which were designed to reduce long-term maintenance requirements. For example, integral bridges have been constructed whereby no bearings are required to be maintained.

A carbon footprint assessment was undertaken on key construction materials. Through value engineering and changes to design & specification to enable the use of sustainable materials, an estimated saving of 23% CO2e was achieved.

Carbon footprint reductions were achieved through earthworks design to minimise volumes of imported aggregate and sourcing local materials and labour. Other measures included PIR controlled lighting within site offices, conference call facilities, car sharing, and provision of 'hot desks'.

Community Benefits

The Harbour Way team has been totally committed to delivering wider economic regeneration benefits to the community and to providing a legacy for future generations.

 

Education and Employment

Working closely with Careers Wales the project team has supported a range of educational activities, including attending careers events, mock interview sessions and hosting work experience placements. The team also hosted placements arranged through Go Wales as part of their Graduate Academy and Work taster programmes and provided essential skills training for 10 team members in literacy and numeracy up to GCSE level. The Project has also provided:

• 41 full time jobs created for local economically inactive people
• 30 work experience placements to schools, colleges and university students
• 7 Apprenticeships.

 

Local Supply Chain

The scheme has provided a positive contribution to the local economy:

• 86% of the subcontractors employed on the project were based in Wales
• 77% of the materials purchased were from South Wales
• Almost 100% of the plant used on the site was hired from the south Wales area
• 87% of the people that worked on the project were based in Wales.
  

Community Engagement

Costain appointed a Community Relations Manager to deal with the public, local schools and businesses on a wide variety of issues relating to the project.

All stakeholders were kept fully informed about the scheme and its impact on the surrounding community through the project Communication Strategy which included:

• a project website
• visitors centre
• Social media (e.g. Twitter)
• quarterly newsletters
• local exhibitions.
  

The project team supported the local community in various ways throughout the project. Over £25K of charity fundraising was carried out during the lifetime of the project, £18K of which was donated to local charities. 46 local organisations were sponsored/supported, including:

• an inter-school rugby and netball competition for all primary schools in the area;
• provision of sport equipment to the local youth club;
• a new path was provided for Port Talbot Scouts to enable disabled to access to their hall and the provision of equipment and materials to assist in the construction of a Community Garden.
  

Other Facts and Figures

• 115,448m2 of surfacing laid
• 32,200m of kerbs laid
• 3,801m of underground drainage laid
• 14,000m3 of reinforced concrete used
• 128 concrete bridge beams installed
• 226 tonnes of steel bridge beams installed
• 7,563m of safety barrier installed
• Over 1,500,000 man hours worked
  
  

Achievements

By working as ‘one team’ and challenging design £15 million savings were achieved through value engineering and innovation during ECI Phase. A further £3 million of savings were generated during the construction phase. The project was delivered safely, on time and within budget.

RoSPA
 4 consecutive Gold Awards in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Considerate Constructors Scheme
 2 Bronze Awards in 2012 and 2013.

Constructing Excellence in Wales
 Integration and Collaborative Working Award 2013
 Shortlisted for Sustainability Award 2013
 National Integration and Collaboration working Award 2013.

Brownfield Briefing Awards 2013
 Award for Best Conceptual Design 2013
 Highly commended – Best Re-Use of Materials.