Motherwell Station, North Lanarkshire – Balfour Beatty
Project case study – M Squared
Location: Motherwell Station & Muir Street, North Lanarkshire
Service overview: Hard landscaping c.500 sqm, installing granite pathways, kerbs and speed bumps.
Project overview: The client was leading on the £14.5m redevelopment of Motherwell Station, enhancing the station forecourt and building on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council. Works included improving pedestrian and cycling access and creating new facilities for taxis, car drop-offs and disabled parking.
We were brought in to complete hard landscaping, installing pathways, kerbs, and speed bumps for pedestrians and traffic. This included lifting, cleaning and reinstating existing granite slabs, and installing new materials. We also completed additional, smaller groundworks jobs, installing drainage lanes and bringing covers to correct levels, to aid smooth project delivery.
Deliverables:
- Removed, cleaned and reinstated existing granite slabs
- Installed new granite paving, tactile paving and kerb
- Constructed new, wider footpaths for pedestrians
- Installed four new granite speed bumps for traffic
- Liaised with the client and end-client on challenges surrounding the existing granite slabs
- Worked alongside the client’s teams as they completing over-running drainage works
- Completed all works on time, despite initial delay to start-date
Challenges:
- Removing, cleaning and reinstating existing granite slabs – We supported cost-saving and sustainability measures by lifting, cleaning and re-laying granite slabs that had only been installed 3-4 years previous.
- Manipulating or fabricating materials – We ensured we could keep to our timeline by reshaping or resizing granite slabs to suit required spaces.
- Levelling groundworks – We streamlined overall delivery by completing additional groundworks jobs, installing additional drainage lanes and bringing manhole and drainage covers to the correct levels.
- Adjusting timings – We delayed our start date to ease pressure on the works commencing prior to ours, allocating our resources elsewhere then bringing in additional labour as required at a later date.
Results:
- Installed c.500sqm granite slabs and kerbs
- Reinstated c.40% of reclaimed granite slabs
- Delivered all works within 16-week timeframe
“We did everything we could to facilitate what was asked of us. That’s just our style at M Squared.”
“This wasn’t a difficult job, but it was to be a high quality job. We were delivering the hard landscaping for pedestrian access areas and traffic calming measures from the existing access up to new station concourse.
“There was some existing, fairly decent quality granite slab on the existing approach that had been done only 3-4 years earlier. The council had asked that we lift them, clean them, and re-lay them.
“So we stripped those existing areas and took that back to our yard. Because of the materials that had been used to lay the slabs, though, there was no way we’d be able to break off all the grouting without breaking the granite. We managed to salvage about 40% of the ones that were lifted.
“We did everything we could to facilitate that. At other places I’ve worked, something like that would happen and hands get thrown up and people might fall out but that’s not our style at M Squared.
“Another factor from this was that we didn’t always have the right sizes of slabs, due to reintroducing existing pieces. New granite can take up to 18 weeks to be delivered, so we’d make the material work for its application by cutting it down and manipulating it, or fabricating what was required so that the finish would be correct. We have that flexibility.
“We also helped with some elements that you’d normally associate with a groundworker – installing drainage lanes and bringing manhole covers and drainage covers to the correct levels – so we could keep hitting our times and targets. We’re certainly capable of doing that and it keeps things moving.
“The end date never moves, no matter what the problems are.
“The team on this job were experienced team, so with that experience comes the ability to problem solve like that. This is all second nature to them. They take pride in their work, and they like a challenge.”
Tony Byers, Quantity Surveyor