Skip to main content

Isle of Wight road stability scheme ‘first’ at Niton’s Undercliff

John Peck Construction has been awarded the contract to carry out the first major road stability scheme at Niton’s Undercliff on the Isle of Wight, England’s largest island. This project is part of a major programme of special geotechnical schemes being delivered by Island Roads (made up of VINCI Concessions, Meridiam Infrastructure and Ringway) under the Highways PFI to maintain the highway at locations prone to ground movement.
February 19, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
John Peck Construction has been awarded the contract to carry out the first major road stability scheme at Niton’s Undercliff on the Isle of Wight, England’s largest island.

This project is part of a major programme of special geotechnical schemes being delivered by Island Roads (made up of 4084 Vinci Concessions, 7167 Meridiam Infrastructure and 2393 Ringway) under the Highways PFI to maintain the highway at locations prone to ground movement.

Worth in the region of €1.19 million (£1 million), the contract is one of the largest ground stability/highway projects secured by Rookley-based John Peck Construction, on the Isle of Wight.

The work at the Undercliff, where the underlying clay foundations have caused frequent and historic issues of movement, will be undertaken at three sections. In the vicinity of Undercliff Caravan Park and Woodlands, the highway will be anchored by 25m steel cables driven through the clay layers into a more substantial layer of rock. At a section above Hunts Road, more than 112 ten metre concrete piles will be inserted into the ground to strengthen the highway.  This operation involves the use of specialist equipment which seeks to adopt a quieter method of installation of the piles and limit the need for lengthy road closures.

The Undercliff scheme was originally scheduled for 2015 and was brought forward after on-going monitoring revealed greater than expected recent movement.

The initial part of the Undercliff work will involve site preparation. John Peck Construction started their stabilisation works from 18 November 2013 and these will be on-going through to 30 April 2014 to ensure they are completed outside of the main tourist season.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ringway mobilising for €44.32million Herts CC contract in UK
    August 24, 2012
    Ringway, the leading service provider for Local Authority Highways Term Maintenance, is currently mobilising in preparation for its new Highway Service Term contract with Hertfordshire County Council. The seven-year contract (with a potential five-year extension) goes live on 1 October, 2012, and is estimated to be worth around €44.32 million (£35 million) in the first full fiscal year.
  • Ringwood is Readi
    September 1, 2017
    UK maintenance company Ringway says that it has invested in Readi Barriers to help improve the management of road closures and reduce the number of incidents with the travelling public. Several automatic Readi Barrier systems have been trialled as an alternative way of enforcing road closures at sites in the English counties of North Yorkshire, Hertfordshire, Cheshire West, the East Midlands and Cambridgeshire.
  • Tampere road tunnel - a strategic link for central Finland
    April 4, 2016
    Progress has been good for an important underground road link in Finland reports Adrian Greeman. Assuming all goes well, the new Ranta, or Lakeside, tunnel in Tampere will open in full six months early; traffic could be running by the end of this year. Work on transforming the rundown city centre with new developments will get a major boost. It is a major achievement on a four-year-long project bringing significant benefits to one of Finland's largest cities. From the government's point of view the scheme w
  • Closer ties with Highways England Collaborative Delivery Framework
    April 13, 2017
    Highways England is reconsidering its procurement to encourage innovation and ultimately deliver more for less. Kristina Smith spoke to client, contractors and material suppliers to find out more. A group of senior managers is being addressed by a local resident who lives close to some proposed road works. The resident is angry, persistent and quite rude. The question is: how will these managers respond?