ONE of the UK’s largest retaining structures has been installed on the £40 million Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor project.
Esh Construction, Aarsleff Ground Engineering and Sunderland City Council have collaborated to deliver four retaining structures in a geotechnical engineering feat.
Aarsleff explained that in just over a year, a soil nail wall formed at a 70-degree angle up to 12m high and 250m in length, a large kingpost retaining wall 250m in length, 85m of contiguous bored pile reinforced concrete retaining wall, and a 65m reinforced concrete L-shaped wall supported on CFA piled foundations, have been installed.
The project will create a new dual carriageway link to the Northern Spire bridge and city centre.
Aarsleff was appointed by Esh to undertake the design and geotechnical works package for the retaining structures, which were necessary to create space for the highway between the former Pallion Shipyard, the upper existing highway, and the Tyne & Wear Metro line.
Kevin Hague, MD of Aarsleff Ground Engineering, said, “This iconic project is becoming the benchmark in soil nail design and execution standards. Working closely with our partners Esh and Sunderland City Council, we are changing the landscape forever and demonstrating along the way how total partnership between client, contractor and specialist can truly work to deliver highly engineered and quality structures.”
