When looking to clear contaminated waste from part of Northumberland’s coastline, contractor BAM required temporary access equipment to ensure locals and visitors weren’t impacted by site traffic. To achieve this, it turned to Mabey Hire and its heavy-duty panel bridge.
The Lynemouth Bay remediation project was carried out on a heavily contaminated stretch of the Northumberland coastline by Royal Haskoning DHV as the consulting engineer and BAM as the principal contractor. The £5m contract was awarded by Northumberland County Council to clean up historic mining waste in the area, which included heavy metals and other contaminants that had the potential to become a health and safety risk, as well as a threat to the environment.
Once excavated, the waste material was taken north of the river Lyne for processing works on an area of land some two miles from the beach, with the potentially hazardous contaminants being removed for permanent safe disposal.
Bridging solution – Temporary works specialist Mabey Hire was involved in providing a range of its temporary bridging equipment to help facilitate site access and reduce disruption to locals during the project. The supplier worked closely with BAM’s engineering team who carried out the load calculations for the bridge and designed the abutments themselves, utilising its in-house capabilities. BAM’s site agent, Jonny Purvis, commented:
“The waste we are dealing with throws up a variety of challenges, ranging from typical household waste – including plastics, rubber and metal – through to ‘hot spots’ consisting of asbestos containing materials and heavy metals and the colliery waste, which dates from the 1930s through to the early 2000s. Over at the temporary processing area, the waste is put through screens and the remaining pulp is re-engineered as backfill – providing it passes the test criteria.
“One of the restrictions in the planning conditions was to reduce the impact to the local community. To meet this, it was clear that we needed an alternative to sending site vehicles, including articulated dump trucks and eight-wheeler lorries, through nearby Creswell and Lynemouth.
“We therefore went out to tender to a number of suppliers to find a solution for crossing the river Lyne and it was Mabey Hire who came up with the most viable proposal. Its equipment was temporary, meaning we weren’t making any permanent changes to the surrounding area; reusable, reducing waste after project completion; and hired, making it more cost-effective than other solutions. All of this made its proposed scheme the most practical, economic and sustainable for us.”
Access granted
The nine-bay compact 200 heavy-duty panel bridge supplied and erected by Mabey was 27.4m in length and 4.2m wide , allowing all necessary site traffic to access the work site without adding congestion to the local road network.
Purvis added: “After our own team had constructed the abutments and approach road, Mabey’s installation team spent just three days on site assembling the temporary bridge’s modular components. We then utilised a 500- tonne mobile crane to lift the bridge into position, before erecting the parapets and other components.” Speaking as enabling works got underway last year, council leader Glen Sanderson said: “We’re delighted to have secured all the necessary permissions and now be in a position to implement this major clean-up project, which will significantly improve the environment along this part of the county’s coastline – an area that has been blighted by past industrial activity.”
Mabey Hire’s kit first arrived on site in May 2024 and the temporary works programme was set to run for 20 weeks, with the excavation and waste treatment progressing well.
In addition to specialist temporary bridges, Mabey Hire offers the UK’s widest range of temporary works solutions, including groundworks support, propping and jacking, while its in-house engineering and installation teams enable an end-to-end service that can include the most precise continuous monitoring of structural movement.
