Client: The Royal United Hospitals
Form of Contract: NEC
Value: circa £900,000
Duration: 22 weeks
Dates: May 2016 – November 2016
North Car Park, RUH, Bath
KEY FACTS
- Excavation and disposal of 13,000t material
- Import of 150t of Topsoil and 5,500t Type 1 Limestone
- 5,900m2 of tarmac and 3,800m2 of block paving surfacing
- Phase occupation and handover to maintain parking for hospital users
- Extensive traffic and pedestrian management
- Smart parking technology installed including CCTV, number plate recognition
Project scope
With only 1 car parking space for every 3 patient beds, Bath Royal United Hospital were struggling to provide sufficient parking space for all hospital needs - patients, staff and visitors. The availability of parking was also starting to impact upon the nearby residential area and restricting access to the hospital.As part of the Royal United Hospital’s £100 million development plan for the 52-acre site, a new car park was approved to create a 300 spaces increasing current parking by 30%.
Project details
MJ Church started works in May 2016 preparing the car park foundation. In agreement with the client, works were extended from 16 to 22 weeks to allow for additional earthwork operations to stabilise the ground following the discovery unstable ground. Excavation was carried out to 1.5-2m below ground level, reworking and compacting the soil already on site, to improve the strength and stability.The additional earthworks ensured that the ground was made twice as strong - evidenced by testing its CBR rating (California Bearing Ratio) before and afterwards. The extended works required no additional imported fill materials, instead, all existing soil on site was re-used saving additional cost to the client, reducing lorry movements and environmental impact.
To create the additional 300 spaces, 60 from an existing car park had to be removed, with the potential to cause added disruption to the hospital and its users. MJ Church agreed with the client to delay the closure as long as possible and phased the handover of the new spaces to ensure the site provided maximum space availability and minimal disruption throughout the duration of the works.
