The £14 million project involved constructing a series of industrial/office starter units on a reclaimed site in Bootle, Merseyside which had previously been contaminated. The ground conditions were variable and improved by using dynamic compaction, dropping large weights a calculated distance to provide already made hole in which to pour concrete foundations. This method was also used to generally stiffen up the ground conditions for the ground slab and paved areas.

Work on site commenced in April 2007, and progressed satisfactorily to successfully hand the completed project over to the client some 12 months later in April 2008. Some residual contaminated material was discovered on site during the construction works, and Curtins provided specialist advice on it’s treatment and disposal.

Part of the funding for the project required that 10% of the energy needs of the buildings was generated on site. This was achieved by locating local turbines on each of the buildings, and also one stand alone turbine to supply the entire development.

The surrounding drainage network required that attenuation of the new drainage system on site was provided. This was achieved by providing a mix of oversize pipes and porous paving on the site, to minimise off site discharges into the surrounding network.