Project Principles and Objectives
The site is the home of the MOD military sea mounting centre and although it will remain the hub of the military sea movement, the site is being developed further to allow for the offloading and storage of vehicles and goods to free up space in the port of Southampton.
Ryebridge was awarded the project by competitive ten-der in November 2023 and tasked with carrying designing and constructing a vast vehicular storage hard-surface area with all kerbs, surfacing, drainage, ducts and manholes, including 18 acres of parking facilities.
The project, which got underway in October 2023, involved the demolition of existing site buildings and off-site highway upgrades, including the old armoury and security buildings, alongside the realignment of the internal highway network and upgraded railway crossing points, and the installation of new high mast lights, site CCTV and the electrical infrastructure.
Project Works and Key Quantities
Ryebridge was tasked with creating a design for the new entrance to the port together with a new security building, traffic management car parking and high and heavy load areas.
The main challenge was the short period allowed for construction and the flexible nature of the port, meaning we needed to design paving strong enough to take not just cars and HGVs but in some cases tanks and armoured vehicles.
1600 linier meters of storm water drainage.
2000 linier meters of new pre-cast slot drainage.
3 new interceptors.
188m/Cu of attenuation in the form of 2 tanks. 6282 meters of fibre reinforced concrete to a new high and heavy area.
15.4 acres of car parking.
3.6 acres of HGV parking.
15 new high mast lighting columns.
26,000 tons of type MOT type 1.
Innovation and Best Practice
The use of prefabricated buildings in lieu of traditional building saves on waste and makes the installation time on site quicker, removing numerous deliveries to site.
The use of pre-cast concrete slot drains in lieu of traditional Aco slot drains saved a lot of time on installation.
Installing fibre reinforced concrete to the high and heavy area removes mesh, allows larger bays, and saves time on installation and labour.
In a company first for environmental excellence, Ryebridge transported the 13,000t of material needed for the work on two boats, eliminating 3,800 lorry movements and the generation of 307 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions (based on 25 tonne vehicles each travelling 10 miles).
Although this meant double-handling the material as it was loaded onto and off the boats, it was deemed to be worth the effort to ensure there was minimal impact on the local community.
