Double Completion of Key Civil Engineering Projects at Birmingham and Cardiff

Fitzgerald Contractors have successfully delivered two vitally important civil engineering schemes whilst overcoming the technical and logistical challenges of working in a live environment.

The Longbridge Connectivity Highway Improvement Scheme consists of road and footway works across 7 Lot packages and with a contract value of £4.3M, is one of the largest to be awarded by Birmingham City Council under the Highway Infrastructure Works Framework Lot 4.

At preconstruction stage Fitzgerald undertook an Early Contractor Involvement contract and implemented various planning measures to overcome the significant risk to the satisfactory completion of the works, namely the performance of the various utility providers whose apparatus is affected by the scheme.

Fitzgerald Contractors Managing Director Nick Coley said: ‘It was identified at an early stage that a key risk to the contract was the statutory services and diversions that were required to enable the works to be completed. We worked collaboratively with the City  Council through a formal Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contract to identify the risks and implement mitigation measures to reduce and in many cases eliminate their potential impact. This process resulted in the construction programme being reduced from an initial 100 weeks to 70 weeks, which resulted in savings being achieved in preliminary and traffic management costs’.

In the same month Fitzgerald Contractors safely completed high-specification public realm works at Central Square in Cardiff City Centre on behalf of client ISG.

The £5M scheme incorporates high-specification granite finishes, public art, street and amenity lighting, CCTV, telematics, street furniture and landscaping. The site, located adjacent to Cardiff Central Railway Station and the Principality Stadium was subject to extremely high volumes of traffic and pedestrian movements (over £12 million people use the railway station annually) which necessitated considerable planning and management in order to maintain full access to the railway station and other key areas of the city.

The contract has achieved the client’s vision of creating a proud new Gateway to the Capital of Wales with the revamped Central Square reflecting Cardiff’s ambition to be amongst Europe’s most successful cities.

Fitzgerald Contractors Operations Director Alex Fish commented: ‘Having worked closely with the ISG team over the preconstruction phase of the project we were able to effectively plan and carry out this complex logistics and pedestrian management both safely and to a very high quality standard.’