Balfour Beatty has been awarded Project of the Year with a Geotechnical Value of over £3 million at the Ground Engineering Awards 2016.
The award recognizes the work undertaken to stabilize a historic landslide in Lyme Regis and the efforts made to ensure the work did not impact on the area’s UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
The Lyme Regis contract was granted to Balfour Beatty in 2012 and completed in spring 2015, ahead of schedule and below budget. The design and build process used a wide range of techniques, including Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering, in-house piling capabilities to install large diameter bored piling and ground stabilization anchors.
This ensured the method used would allow for land sliding and earth movement in some locations, but offer full protection in others, fully complying to the design sensitivities outlined by Natural England, UNESCO and the detailed planning permission.
The £13.5 million works included the construction of a 400m wave wall and walkway built below the landslide areas, and the stabilization of the major slope; which used 2,500 soil nails, a 27m deep, 200m long anchored piled wall with inclined anchors up to 46m long, dowel piles extending to 12m, and groundwater drainage to ensure the protection of 480 homes.