It requires deep knowledge, experience, and a great amount of planning to design, engineer, install, and commission critical concrete plants on a high-profile construction project like HS2. Here at Bulldog Plant & Equipment Ltd our team of industry professionals with over 200 years of combined industry experience provided unique and unrivalled expertise to deliver 5 state of the art concrete plants for one of the most important projects of infrastructure – High Speed Two.
Three bespoke concrete batching plants are operating on the Chiltern Tunnel section with 2 more working on other sites. The two tunnel segment factories, which are located near Rickmansworth, are fed by a single concrete batching plant with two 2m³ high-performance planetary mixers. As a part of our overall solution for the customer, we have supplied a variety of additional components, like KTI/Sauter aggregate and water heating systems, as mix temperatures for the concrete were a critical requirement for the specially designed concrete mixes.
We had to install the concrete batching plant between the two tunnel segment factories with a completely unknown concrete delivery system. When we arrived on site, a large part of the factory and delivery system itself has been completed or were in the process of being assembled, meaning we had to build our equipment around it. It was quite a challenge for everyone.
As a part of the project, a highly technological water recycling system has been designed and installed by our team. All concrete wastewater is processed by a Bibko concrete reclaiming and water-management and purification system, which includes fibre-separation equipment and a filter press. All the contaminants are removed from the wastewater during this complex process before being treated by a specially designed CO2 PH correction system after which any water discharged to local sewers is clean and uncontaminated.
The tunnel operations begin at the South Portal in Rickmansworth, where we have also installed two more large bespoke concrete batching plants with 3m³ Twinshaft mixers. These MEKA K140 high-performance batching units were built expressly to meet the project’s demand for enormous volumes of high-performance concrete for the HS2 C1 infrastructure works.
This project posed numerous challenges for all the teams involved, and there were many lessons learned along the way. There is a process that begins before we arrive on site and continues after we arrive on site and beyond, and we are extremely grateful to have been a part of such a prestigious project, despite many challenges. We are equally grateful to have successfully completed our part of the contract, especially under such unusually difficult circumstances.
Find out more on Agg-Net: https://www.agg-net.com/resources/articles/concrete/bes-crack-complex-concrete-challenge
