Global Technology Company ZF Manufacturing (ZF) is relocating its operations from Solihull to a brand new facility situated on Blythe Valley Business Park. ZF specialises in driveline and chassis technology as well as active and passive safety systems. It has global workforce of almost 150,000 operates from 230 locations in 40 countries.
The owner Blythe Valley Business Park IM Properties sold a Nine-Acre Plot to ZF for them to develop a purpose-built Regional Technical Centre and Office Building, bringing staff together under one roof, from its current set up of four buildings located nearby.
O’Brien were contracted on a lump sum basis to carry out the earthworks, ground improvement and groundworks for ZF Manufacturing’s new purpose-built Regional Technical Centre and Office Building.
We were heavily involved in supporting our client through their tender negotiations with ZF Manufacturing. Due to the nature of the existing ground conditions our expertise in ground improvement was sought to provide a robust engineered solution to overcome the existing conditions. The ground improvement process also aided in significantly reducing the amount of imported quarried stone required on the project.
In addition, working in collaboration with our client, we used our earthworks modelling capabilities to aid in minimising the amount of material taken to landfill.
The foundations for both buildings were circa 1,400m3 and were programmed in such a manner to aid timely access for our client’s steelwork contractor. The concrete works also included the floor slab for the Office Building (425m3) and high precision foundations for specialist testing and lifting equipment in the Technical Building.
Drainage works consisted off 0.75km of Foul Water Sewer, 1.35km of Storm Water Sewer along with circa 550m3 of Stormwater Attenuation, Interceptors and Hydro brake. There was an extensive Utility Network of around 4.9km along with associated chambers installed alongside the drainage.
The works were completed with 7,300m2 of bituminous surfacing, 4,170m2 of concrete service yard and preparation work for block paving.