Project: East Lytham Flood Defence, Lancashire, UK
Contractor: Mott MacDonald, BAM Nuttall & The Environment Agency
Dura Composites offers a range of Access Structures made from our non-corrosive, non-conductive and lightweight Glass Reinforced Polymer (GRP) which provide exceptional strength, toughness and consistency, making them a logical and cost-effective alternative to steel, aluminium, wood or other conventional materials. Dura Composites’ fabrications can be delivered to site as a complete structure or in manageable sections for final assembly on location as in the case of this challenging but rewarding project for Mott MacDonald, BAM Nuttall and the Environment Agency.
Flooding of Lytham in Lancashire and its surrounding farmland has been a problem for many years. The area is flat and low lying and is drained by two watercourses, Liggard Brook and Main Drain. These watercourses discharge into the Ribble Estuary through tidal outfalls. Twice a day, at high tide, the outfalls are tide locked as sea levels are higher than the water levels in the in-land waterways. This means that water cannot pass from the land out to sea and when this occurs together with heavy rainfall, flooding is the inevitable result.
Commenting on the completion of the project, Adam Manley of the Environment Agency told Current magazine:
Completing these works with a scheme value of £3.7m and benefits of £200m means that over 1000 homes and businesses are protected, as well as large areas of farmland, making the local community confident that the system and the flood risk is being managed effectively by the environment agency.
The East Lytham Flood Risk Management scheme was designed to protect 752 residential properties, 286 commercial properties and 974Ha of farmland at fluvial flood risk. The joint venture clients’ requirements to help mitigate the risk of flooding included a price-competitive, corrosion-resistant and safe GRP installation with rapid install capability.
After a competitive tender process, Dura Composites were chosen to supply a Maintenance Access Walkway Structure with a bespoke design, interfacing with steel pipework. The GRP structure had detailed specifications that our market-leading Dura Profiles were able to comply with including stringent deflection criteria and a 10kN ‘Debris Point’ from floating debris.
The Dura Profile range from which the East Lytham installation was fabricated includes Angle, Channel, Beam, Box and Tube sections. Weighing around 50% less than steel, Dura Profile offers equivalent performance for considerably less weight. This results in major cost savings due to more economical transportation, handling, and on-site fitting. It is fast becoming the material of choice for work platforms, ladders, handrailing, cable trays, flow sub-structures and more, thanks to its corrosion-resistant, high strength, low weight, non-conductive and UV resistant characteristics.
Solutions Supplied at East Lytham by Dura Composites:
- Structural Analysis and Design
- Bespoke Shaped GRP Fabrication with:
- Key Clamp Handrail
- Debris Point protection
- Step Landings
- Seamless interface with existing steel structure
- UV Resistance
- Slip resistance (BS 4592-4:2006)
