About Project

Details

A key issue for central government is the shortage in suitable housing stock. Between 2015-2020 it is estimated that approximately 250,000 – 300,000 new houses will be required each year to meet demand. UK housing developers are therefore facing ever greater challenges to secure and develop viable sites for sustainable and affordable housing. Consequently, housing developers are now looking in more detail at brown field sites and those with difficult terrains.

Fellside, Hexham is a prime example of a plot of land which is ideal for housing development but which presents challenges to access the site using standard highway construction. It is at times like this where specialist Consultancies such as GPS are required to apply their skills to design problems in order to test and evaluate all possible solutions to ensure the site is viable for development.

The Project

Upon the successful delivery of our commission, the client wished to develop the alternative solution which we had put forward in further detail. GPS were therefore commissioned to develop an option that pulled the road closer to the boundary with a 1 in 10 vertical grade.

Our Expertise

GPS Engineers used the previous 3D ground model and layout to develop the options in greater detail. We once again used Civils 3D but developed a series of new cross sections including varying heights of retaining structures to minimise the footprint of the road and to maximise the developable area.

The Outcome

GPS successfully demonstrated that it was indeed possible to access the development site with an access road with a maximum gradient of 1 in 10. Our designs drawings also provided enough detail for the client to run cost estimates by showing the following information:

• Length of highway
• Cross sections at particular chainages
• Heights of retaining structures
• Cut & fill volume tables.