Jackson Civil Engineering’s floodwall project in Suffolk setting “very high” industry standards

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The project was the result of an assessment of the floodwall in Woodbridge during the tidal surge of December 2013, when the water came within 800mm of the top of the defences.

Site Manager Ashley Tate explained:

“When the water receded, the wall showed signs of excessive movement, so an investigation was undertaken to determine the stability of the wall. Analysis showed that had the water level been 200mm higher the wall would have overturned and failed. Hence a design was produced to rebuild and strengthen the wall in order for it to continue to provide a high level of protection to the town.”

The work, on behalf of client the Environment Agency, involved driving steel-cased piles approximately 8m deep into the footpath that runs on the river side of the floodwall.

Ashley explained:

“These are to support a new 300mm thick reinforced concrete slab to anchor and strengthen the existing sheet pile defence.

“The slab doubles up as the reinstated footway. A new brickwork face was then built on the slab in front of the sheet pile wall and concrete placed to form the core of the new wall. A precast coping was then fixed to the top of this to bring the wall up to the desired defence level.

“The work was over a 265m long stretch of the riverbank and was split into two phases so that could be maintained to various boat clubs who had buildings along the river. The overall duration of the works is nine months.”

The Scheme champion prepared a CCS folder with divisions for each part of the Code of Considerate Practice, with ideas of best practice taken from its own sites and the Best Practice Hub. This folder also provided a means of recording what had been done to incorporate the requirements of the Code into its operations.

The site is on the Woodbridge Waterfront, an amenity area frequented by both local residents and tourists. There is a rowing club, two boat yards, a busy tearoom, boat moorings and a public car park that are affected by the works. Access is down a narrow road through a residential area.

You can find out how the Jackson Civil Engineering project team addressed these challenges and carried out best practice initiatives to comply with the Considerate Constructors Scheme by clicking on the sliders below:

  • The company used social media to communicate activities and updates to the community, setting up dedicated pages on Twitter and Facebook.
  • Gestures of goodwill were carried out, including a concrete hard-standing for the Deben Rowing Club, for which they named a boat after Jackson Civil Engineering, and held a naming ceremony which was covered in the regional newspaper.
  • To make it easier for the Woodbridge Cruising Club to access the waterfront, the project team also redesigned a section of the defences to eliminate a difficult access ramp and incorporate a floodgate. This is particularly useful for disabled club members.
  • Planting of the area in front of the cruising club was removed so that the work could be undertaken. In conjunction with the club, they also redesigned this area and employed an ecologist and landscaping contractor to provide a replacement area, specifically geared towards improving local biodiversity.
  • The company took part in the local careers events at Otley College to recruit local school leavers.
  • It also suspended works during the town regatta – an act of goodwill which was greatly appreciated by the community.
  • Help was provided to a local tea hut after suffering a break-in and the team also provided a local rowing club with extra racking and renewed fencing as additional goodwill gestures. 
  • Zero-cement alternative to concrete: Jackson Civil Engineering identified concrete as the single largest contributor to its carbon footprint. Carbon embodied in concrete is roughly four times greater than the organisation’s scope one and two emissions combined annually. They have been trialling low carbon concretes for some time but were keen to trial and use a new cement-free concrete on this project in order to ascertain its performance and promote its wider use. Because the product is innovative, there was resistance to its use from designers, but the team worked closely with the client, the Environment Agency, to get its use agreed, jointly taking all risks for its use. A zero-cement, sustainable alternative to concrete had been used to form the concrete core of the new floodwall. This was the first application of this concrete in permanent works anywhere in the country. The team worked together with the manufacturer and trialled the material in a test slab in the site compound to gather data on workability, strength gain and durability of surface finishes, as these were all concerns raised by the supplier. However, after a successful trial, the material was passed for use in the wall core and gives a carbon saving against the equivalent low carbon concrete mix of around 67%, which equates to a saving of around 7.842 tonnes of CO2e for the site. Against a traditional mix, this is a saving of up to 90%.
  • An ecologist visited the site every six to eight weeks and a swan was sensitively removed from a potential nesting site in liaison with the EA.
  • Emergency procedures are explained at induction, covering fire emergencies or operatives falling into water. Escape routes were defined and a fire drill was held, with a muster point set up at the compound.
  • Graduates were taken on as management trainees and sponsored through courses. Subcontractors were encouraged to take on apprentices.
  • Operatives were encouraged to obtain qualifications, several e-learning modules were available and the company contributed to the Scheme’s Best Practice Hub.
  • Counselling and financial advice was available to those who required it.

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