We were appointed to provide our services for a major new logistics site near St Helens and Junction 23 of the M6 motorway, located between Merseyside and Greater Manchester.
Called Haydock Green, this high-profile site is located on greenfield land west of the M6. We were consultants to the developer, Morley Estates, and builder Barnfield Construction.
Haydock Green centred on the construction of two large warehouses, one on a 7.2-acre plot and the other on a 17-acre plot. The warehouses are intended mainly for climate-controlled storage and distribution but include some offices. Hundreds of jobs are to be created there and staff from a pharmaceutical firm based at Knowsley on the outskirts of Liverpool will be relocated to the new site.
Our services focused on cut-and-fill earthmoving analysis and access roads, car parks, drainage, retaining wall and foundations for the new warehouses. Other work includes the design of balcony steelwork around the warehouse reception area and offices.
The project required major cut-and-fill analysis and excavations to level the site. We surveyed the topography, which was followed by the excavation and relocation of 42,000 cubic metres of soil to the low areas. The quantity of earth moved was equivalent of 17 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The site’s drainage system design uses underground stormwater attenuation tanks to capture rainwater and then slowly release it at the same rate as agricultural green fields to reduce flooding.
Two large tanks were provided, the first comprising four 2.4 meters in diameter measuring 110 metres long, while the second is also 2.4 meters in diameter by 132 metres long. These can hold a total of 3,200 cubic metres of rainwater, which is seven days’ worth of constant, heavy rainfall.
Elsewhere, Edge’s structural engineering work focused on large concrete foundations needed for the huge new steel-framed warehouses. The largest warehouse, measuring 113 metres wide, 323 metres long and over 15 metres high, required 1,100 tonnes of steel frames.
Edge Structural Design designed foundations using a total of almost 1,000 cubic metres of concrete. The largest measured the size of a standard domestic living room and required 50 cubic metres of concrete.
Haydock Green was the biggest plot of land with the biggest industrial buildings that Edge Structural had worked on when the project began in early 2018. It was completed in time and to budget, with handover in summer 2019.
There were many factors to deal with, including existing overhead and underground electricity and water supplies, and wildlife. The site has a mains water pipeline running below it, serving Warrington and Haydock, which was retained and the new site’s service yard is now located above it. Elsewhere, overhead power lines had to be diverted underground and lagoons were created to protect sensitive wildlife.