Circular construction specialists land new housing project


 

A Holcim UK business has been selected to help deliver the preparatory works to transform a former second world war airfield into a new housing development. 

OCL Regeneration, a member of Holcim, is contracted to remove the old runway at Ford Airfield in West Sussex.

The airfield opened in 1918 and played a key part in World War II, being used for night time raids over northern Europe and forming part of the Allies D-Day plans.

It is now part of a multi-million pound plan by Vistry, the UK’s leading provider of mixed-tenure homes, to create a new 1,500-home neighbourhood with community facilities at a new development, called Fordham.

OCL has been contracted to process all site-won materials into foundation and paving materials.

The concrete runway is 250mm thick and laid on an asphalt base. The base contains hazardous waste which has to be specially handled, treated and reprocessed in order to comply with Environment Agency standards.

The first phase of works has seen the temporary compound site surface created. This 6,000 metres squared area was first stabilised using an in-situ treatment.

Work then started to remove the runway with a section of it being milled and planed. This was screened and repurposed by mixing with cement and water, creating a new paving grade product known as Cement Bound Granular Material (CBGM).

This has been used to create the compound surface ready to house the mobile plant equipment, vehicles and material storage areas that OCL will utilise in future Phases.

Image

The next phase of work will see full remediation start and the rest of the runway removed. The materials will be processed and repurposed in the compound to create a Type 1 recycled aggregate and capping for the foundations of the development’s spine road.

Roger Eke, Business Development Manager at OCL Regeneration, said: “We’re delighted to have been chosen to deliver these essential works on such a transformative scheme.

“Undoubtedly our ability in delivering projects like this on-site, alongside our experience of handling hazardous materials, has helped our bid.

“We are helping deliver a truly circular offering by taking the waste materials and processing them on-site into new products to be used back into the project.

“This is not only circular in nature, it is also highly cost-effective and will reduce carbon emissions as it helps drastically reduce haulage and truck movements.”

The next phase of work starts this week and the contract will be completed by the end of the year.

OCL Regeneration is a member of Holcim and part of the company’s wider contracting business in the UK.

For more information on OCL’s services visit www.oclregeneration.co.uk