Category: Press Release

Leading midlands civil engineering and groundworks contractor, O’Brien, has been appointed as Principal Contractor on a “Design and Build” contract for the construction of a synthetic “Mondo” 6 lane 400m IAAF and UK Athletics track with associated field facilities at Eastwood School, Leigh-on- Sea in Essex. The project also includes a full size FIFA compliant football pitch on the infield.

The construction involves reduced level excavation, “cut and fill” to formation with the disposal of 15000m3 of residual spoil being disposed off site, including associated drainage sub base build up and macadam civil works and the installation of long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault and circle for throwing events. The infield will be top soiled and seeded and marked accordingly.

The project is being overseen by a dedicated management team who have ensured that our own in house resources have been implemented and deployed to meet planned and programmed requirements and liaise with the clients on regular basis to ensure the clients wishes and expectations are being met and fulfilled.

This team is supported by the Head Office staff that is able to procure our specialised subcontractor for the Macadam works to meet the fine tolerances that are required on this project.

The project to date has been carried out to the satisfaction of the customer who has high expectations for this prestige project.

Midlands-based specialist civil engineering and groundworks contractor, O’Brien has been awarded the £1.2 million contract to carry out infrastructure upgrade works at Aston University in Birmingham.

The Leamington Spa company will be principle contractor on the 26 week package which will involve the installation of services including district heating mains, high and low voltage electric, cold water and fire hydrant mains plus IT and communication cabling.

The services are to be supplied to the new high-rise student accommodation providing 2350 new rooms for students on the campus as part of the university’s redevelopment programme for which O’Brien previously carried out the £1.7 million Enabling Works package.

Stuart Chamberlain at O’Brien, said: “This is a great contract win for us. It’s a repeat work from an valued client, showing our strong commitment to client satisfaction and our companies flexible approach to our clients requirements.”

Work starts on the new phase in August.

Leading civil engineering and groundworks contractor, O’Brien, has successfully completed the biggest concrete pour in its 50 year history.  The work was carried out at Hanson UK in Leicester and comprised 1100m³ concrete over a 2200m² slab for a chamber dryer.

Tony Mitchell, Project Manager said: “This is unique to O’Briens due to the large amount of concrete poured and we believe the key to our success was being able to co-ordinate simultaneous concrete deliveries from five separate plants, while making sure that the traffic management was thoroughly organised.

The large quantity of concrete required 2 no 52m boom concrete pumps to maintain the required output and ensure that concrete was placed in the working day”.

The Hanson brick factory is a £54 million facility with the capacity to produce 100 million bricks a year. It also features a low energy, low waste production process, including a kiln heat recycling system to maximise heat recovery and reduce gas consumption.

The value of O’Brien Contractors’ work is £4.75 over a 30 week period.

Leading midlands civil engineering and groundworks contractor, O’Brien, have recently been awarded a £1.3 million Enabling works package at Aston University in Birmingham.

The contractor will undertake the Project as Principal Contractor for new client, Aston Student Villages, set up to provide a new 3000 rooms, high rise student accommodation within the existing University campus.

The 20 week enabling works package consists of:

• The diversion of existing services currently running through the proposed development. These services, both private and owned by the statutory undertakers, include high and low voltage electric, telecommunication including fibre optic, gas and water mains;
• Road alterations and new adoptable 278 highway works to provide the new infrastructure to the proposed development;
• Demolition of existing properties currently on the site and ground remediation to the area beneath the two proposed blocks to allow future construction works to take place.

The ground remediation involves excavating 9000m3 of material, processing it to meet specification requirements and reinstating the resulting material to meet the compaction criteria laid down for end use.

Furthermore, there is requirement to carryout bulk earthworks of 8000m3 of reduced level dig and disposal off site and subsequent capping of the formation with granular material prior to the building contractor taking possession of the site.

Leading groundworks and civil engineering contractor, O’Brien, are currently undertaking work at Hanson Brickworks, Measham, as part of a recently acquired £4.75million contract with existing client SDC. The Leicestershire-based project involves the construction of a new ‘super’ brick manufacturing plant for Hanson Building Products. O’Brien’s 30-week contract period includes enabling works, installation of large diameter storm drainage, substructures, superstructures and external works.

Project Manager Stuart Chamberlain commented: “Hanson Brickworks is an excellent opportunity for O’Brien Contractors to demonstrate the full range of our services. Specialist manufacturing plants demand equally specialist construction, and our strong team and technology will ensure that this is achieved. We are delighted to continue our ongoing successful working relationship with SDC as Principal Contractor”.

Over 20,000m2 of existing concrete and tarmac hardstandings will be lifted and crushed for use as a piling mat and capping, before bulk earthworks reduce level dig in excess of 15,000m3 to complete the enabling works for the project. The substructure will then be created by placing 10,000m3 of structural concrete and pad foundations with 800 tonnes of reinforcement, before laying machine bases and 22,000m2 of floor slab.

Four bunker cells, each consisting of 14m high reinforced concrete walls will be constructed to form the superstructure of the Hanson Brickworks, and final external works will consist of 10,000m3 of bulk earthworks, installing over 750m of attenuation storm drainage ranging from 600mm to 1200mm diameter plus 10,000m2 of concrete road and hardstanding.

O’Brien Contractors’ Managing Director, Peter O’Brien, commented: “Our expertise in the construction of specialist projects gives our clients the valuable peace of mind so essential with this type of development. Significant projects such as Hanson Brickworks are an opportunity for O’Brien Contractors to use the expertise we have acquired over 50 years to exceed our clients’ expectations.”

Clients working with leading midlands civil engineering and groundworks contractor, O’Brien Contractors, will now benefit from industry-leading new technology designed to reduce the cost of high accuracy projects. This addition to the company’s capabilities is the result of the recent purchase of a new Caterpillar Cat D6N LGP. The plant has not only expanded O’Brien Contractors’ fleet, but is also equipped with Trimble’s latest GCS900 machine control system.

The GCS900 system is a laser-based technology that ensures the best-case earth works models produced by O’Brien Contractors’ engineers can be exactly reproduced on site. This maximises the accuracy and efficiency of projects, and minimises clients’ costs by reducing the requirement for labour. O’Brien Contractors’ current machine control systems and latest surveying ground modeling technology have already established the company’s position at the forefront of the industry, and the addition of the complimentary GCS900 system will further enhance the expertise they offer clients.

Plant Manager Mick O’Brien commented: “Value and the highest quality work are equally important to our clients. O’Brien Contractors are proud to consistently achieve both, but we are always looking for ways to offer more and our recent purchase will help us to do so. The additional Cat D6N LGP will provide us with extra plant capacity, and the GCS900 system will allow us to deliver an even higher standard of excellence.”

O’Brien Contractors purchased the Caterpillar Cat D6N LGP in November 2007. The plant has achieved widespread acclaim throughout the building and contracting industry, and will be used on earthworks during O’Brien Contractors’ client projects.