The UK’s first Doosan DX490LC-5 50 tonne Stage IV compliant crawler excavator has been purchased by Hydrock
“As an expert in environmental and land remediation work, the low emissions and fuel efficiency of the new DX490LC-5 are ideal for the specialist contracts we undertake” explains Jacqueline Vargo, Plant Manager at Hydrock.
“The new excavator is working on its first contract on the Kings Weald development in Burgess Hill in West Sussex, where Hydrock is working on behalf of the residential developer, Croudace Homes.
We are carrying out a large scale £3.3 million remediation and ground engineering contract on behalf of Croudace using the new DX490LC-5 excavator and additional Doosan DX420LC-3 and DX225LC-3 excavators.”
Kings Weald is a new residential development on the site of the former Keymer brick and tile works.
Planning consent has been granted to enable the remodelling of the site to create a suitable development platform for 475 dwellings; associated infrastructure including new vehicular access onto Kings Way, Wyvern Way and Curf Way; and a new community leisure centre in Burgess Hill.
Hydrock has already carried out demolition of the former Keymer Tiles factory buildings, with the work including removal of asbestos from within the building structure and the break-up of the ground floor concrete slabs.
This has been followed by remediation of the ground in preparation for the commencement of new home building on this area of the site.
After many years of clay extraction associated with the former Keymer works, the redevelopment of this brownfield site, including the clay extraction pits, requires the levels on the site to be re-graded to generate a suitable and stable development platform.
Supplied by Kellands (Plant Sales), the Authorised Dealer for the Doosan and Bobcat ranges for South West England, the new DX490LC-5 is powered by the Scania DC13 diesel engine, providing 283 kW of power at 1800 rpm.
The engine meets Stage IV emission regulations without the need of a diesel particulate filter (DPF), through the use of cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and selective catalyst reduction (SCR) after-treatment technologies.
The Scania engine operates at a much lower engine speed of 1,800 rpm, down from 2,000 rpm in the previous Stage IIIB model, leading to a significant reduction in fuel consumption, which factory tests show to be an average of 5 per cent.
This is complemented by the introduction of new and exclusive energy-saving features that together lead to a huge reduction in fuel consumption, amounting to 13 per cent compared to the Stage IIIB machine.
Chris Griffiths, Contracts Manager for Hydrock, said: “As well as the mass excavation works, another key application for the new DX490LC-5 will be vertical band draining.
This method provides an economical solution for treating the large area of soft alluvial clays and silts on the site, increasing settlement rates by up to 90 per cent by providing pathways via the band drains to allow pore water to drain away more quickly.”
Vertical band drains consist of a permeable plastic core wrapped in a filter membrane which is threaded through a hollow mandrel for installation purposes.
The mandrel is driven to the required depth in the ground by a rig mounted on the DX490LC-5, after which the mandrel is removed, leaving the vertical drain anchored by a steel anchor plate that holds the drain securely in place.
Phil Hughes, Hydrock Site Manager at Kings Weald, said: “The DX490LC-5 has been performing well in the earthmoving operations and is perfectly suited to the vertical band drain work – it will be used to install over 136,000 drains on the site.”
As well as large-scale earthmoving, the new unit offers the strength and productivity needed for heavy duty work such as moving rock, pulling down buildings, secondary breaking, loading haulers and pipeline projects found on quarrying and mining, highway, aggregate, demolition, utility and general construction projects.
Featuring a distinctive new machine styling scheme, ‘LC-5’ range excavators improve the already high standards set by the previous LC-3 range, adding to enhanced comfort and controllability with new features to boost fuel efficiency, uptime and return on investment, with a focus on increased power, robustness and agility.
Formed in 1995, Hydrock is a UK leader in the safe and efficient delivery of sustainable remediation schemes.
The company provides a wide range of engineering and environmental services for each step of the planning and design process and beyond.
Today the company employs around 500 people in 17 offices nationally and continues to expand both geographically and through the range of services the company offers.
With depots in Bridgwater and Camelford in Cornwall, Kellands (Plant Sales) is the Authorised Doosan Dealer for Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire.
The company is also the Authorised Dealer for the same areas for the complete range of Bobcat equipment.
