KIA Car Storage Facility

Overview

Mason Clark Associates (MCA) were appointed by Hewitt Associates Ltd to provide Civil Engineering Design work and technical team support for a new car storage facility owned by KIA at Kiln Lane, Stallingborough.

Tasks / challenges

The works involved the designing of drainage and ducting, car park construction, highway design for a new junction from North Moss lane, design for 3 culverts and 6 headwalls including Armco barrier provision, high mast lighting foundation designs, design of a middle drain bridge based on box culvert section and providing post novation client team technical support.

The biggest challenge faced during these works was due to the fact that the site was an extension development to that previously undertaken by different contractors who had experienced issues during the post construction phase. In addition to this, there was a high risk of flooding due to the site being in a high-risk zone. Furthermore, the proximity of high voltage cables to the working areas also posed challenges to the design of the whole project, which required careful consideration throughout all aspects of our design work.

Activity

First and foremost, we reviewed the design and construction work that was carried out by previous contractors, spending time to understand the client’s expectations and inculcate the lessons learnt from this into our design work. This involved carrying out site walkover surveys and determining any further investigations and testing that may be required to inform designs. We then assessed car park foundation requirements and prepared concept designs which included all technical aspects of the project. We also liaised with Northern Power Grid to determine their safe working requirements and where any exclusion zones existed, ensuring that this as factored into each element of our design work. At the earliest possible instance, we factored in the high risk of flooding, raising the site to reduce groundwater from rising up through the surfacing. What’s more, we ensured that the pavement design factored in that there was a very low CBR. In doing this, we researched effective means of ground stabilisation and imported materials such as Geogrids, Tensar and Macceferri.

Results

We received very positive feedback from the client regarding MCA as a whole, and particularly for the team assigned to this project. We have successfully implemented strategies for risk mitigation which have overcome the initial challenges we faced on this project, ensuring that all issues that arose under previous post-construction phases were assessed and acted upon from the outset.