Project Summary
In the summer of 2007 the country witnessed extensive flooding with areas in England experiencing “over two months rainfall in just 14 hours.” Loss of water and electricity supply was experienced with thousands of homes and local businesses affected by rising flood waters and the closure of water treatment works and small electricity substations. A further 600,000 people were also close to losing power as river levels breached a large 400Kv switching station. Fire and rescue services acted swiftly and while the Governments Cobra committee discussed the possibility of evacuation for the area in general, National grid staff, emergency services and military personnel used barriers and sandbags to protect the main buildings and critical equipment, ensuring the station remained operational throughout.
Afterwards, a major national programme to enhance flood defences was agreed with this specific project taking the opportunity to upgrade security to meet current CPNI standards.
The Challenges
Providing protection against a 1 in 1000 year flood event involved building over 1 kilometer of reinforced concrete and sheet piled walls. As well as protecting the site from future flooding, the team at RHI Industrials worked in partnership with Lochrin Bain to ensure the security fencing system was fully integrated with the substations new flood defences.
The Specification
Utilising Lochrin 26 pale, High Security Combi™ system incorporating a patented ‘Vee’ slot with countersunk fixing. Posts were designed for installation within the flood wall with Gallagher Powerfence topping taking the overall attack barrier to 6.0 metres. As well as a number of pedestrian and emergency exit gates manufactured by Lochrin Bain, the entrance to site had 2 Inova 400 ESI Cantilever gates with Combi.
Unlike traditional Palisade fencing which can be easily compromised, Combi™ has gained several accreditations including CPNI certification for use on CNI sites nationwide. A unique security solution.
The Results
The project gained several recommendations and awards with Trant Construction picking up both ICE Civil engineering project of the year award and RICS National Infrastructure Project of the year award. One of many Lochrin Combi projects installed by RHI Industrials over the past decade, the close working relationship between both companies from initial design stage through to completion was an excellent success.
