Great Wolf Resort

Fitzgerald has successfully delivered a £3.15m scheme involving highway improvements and new utility supplies for a new water park and hotel resort complex being built by Bicester Golf Club in Oxfordshire. The scheme involved construction of a new bellmouth entry off the A4095, along with a service corridor for new utility supplies serving the resort located beneath a new S278 footway/cycleway.

The scheme enabled installation of new utility ducts and pipes, housed in a service corridor from the new resort to Chesterton village, beneath a 600m section of the 1.4km new tarmac surfaced S278 footway/cycleway. The services, including foul sewer rising main, then continued within the carriageway through the village for a further 1.2km. The new footway/cycleway was linking an existing footway by an overbridge over the M40 to Chesterton village, which demanded installation of a new Vehicle Restraint System (VRS) on the approaches to the M40 overbridge. The scheme also required a separate element of S278 works to install a 400m section of new footway/cycleway on the opposite side of the Golf Club. Key challenges included:

Managing stakeholder interfaces: We proactively engaged with the local community, attending Parish Council meetings, and regularly updating village residents on progress and the forward programme. We collaborated with Oxfordshire County Council to determine the best strategy for Traffic Management with careful consideration of the impacts on the local community. All site traffic used designated routes avoiding access through the village.

Design & installation of VRS: Completion of extensive surveys and production of detailed cross-sections enabled the VRS design specialist to design a solution that avoided a reduction in footway width. The VRS was successfully installed without any impact on the existing National Highways VRS and its connection to the bridge parapet.

Managing unchartered high and low voltage electric cables: We carried out extensive trial hand excavations to determine exact cable routes and impact on the works. We established they extended most of the length of the S278 service corridor so used vacuum excavation to safely uncover them. New pipes and ducts were then installed and fully re-sanded, before placing new warning tape and tiles, and backfilling.

The project was completed early and to client satisfaction.

“The experience of working with Fitzgerald has been exceptional throughout. The work was well planned and delivered ahead of time. The team were supportive and always focussed on the best interests of the project.”

Stuart Adolph, Project Executive, Great Wolf Resorts