We are excited to announce that Extrudakerb has returned to the A1 Birtley to Coalhouse project this week to continue our vital work on this Costain-led Regional Delivery Partnership (RDP) scheme. Our team is hard at work installing more of our innovative Extrudakerb barrier and Slot Drain products, ensuring top-tier quality and safety for this significant infrastructure project.
Stay tuned for more updates on our progress and the impact of our installations on this transformative project!
We are thrilled to announce that Extrudakerb is nearing the completion of another successful visit to the A465 Heads of the Valley project. Our team has been hard at work, and we are proud to report significant progress in the installation of Surface Water Channel and Extrudakerb Concrete Barrier products across the FCC Construccion led scheme.
Thanks to the dedication and expertise of our team, we've maintained our commitment to high-quality workmanship throughout this project. Stay tuned for more updates on future visits as we draw close to wrapping up this phase and look forward in continuing to deliver excellence in every aspect of our operations!
In May 2024, Extrudakerb commenced works on the M27 J5 to 7 project near Southampton, working in collaboration with Morgan Sindall.
The project involves the installation of approx. 6km of Central Reserve Slot Drain and associated outfalls, along with 800m of Surface Water Channel in the verge.
The in-situ Slot Drain product provides our clients with additional surface drainage capacity and a reduced impact on the road construction layout whilst being able to cater for level adjustments and subgrade undulations encountered.
The M27 J5 to 7 project features both a freestanding (as shown) slot drain and ‘scab-on’ slot drain detail, in which creates an onsite installation solution to both existing and new carriageway constructions.
We look forward to working together with Morgan Sindall on our final project for the Concrete Road Framework.
February saw the successful completion of the A585 Windy Harbour project close to Blackpool, working in collaboration with client, Kier and material supplier, Tarmac.
The project involved the installation of approx. 6km of Surface Water Channel (SWC) as well as associated outfalls constructed over several planned visits due to the complexity of the project work phases.
Our first visit commenced as long ago as the end of November 2022 and ran through to Christmas. There were 3 small visits throughout 2023 in January, March, and November, before our final visit which commenced at the end of January 24.
With projects like Windy Harbour, where we attend site for short visits, it is imperative that the site is prepared correctly for us as there is little to no time in the programme to mitigate any delays. We also need to ensure that we hit the ground running, with little to no delay, so a quality concrete supply is essential.
Both Kier and Tarmac played their parts in ensuring each visit to site was short, sharp and sweet. This collaboration allowed us to meet our programme, meet our customer needs, and move on successfully to the next project.
The completion of the Windy Harbour project follows other successful schemes working with Kier and we hope to continue this successful collaboration in the future.
We also appreciate receiving positive feedback from our customers on how we performed. This allows us to feedback to our teams, ensure we are meeting our customer needs, along with building and developing relationships. Our client stated:-
“Working with Extrudakerb on the A585 has been a great pleasure, Extrudakerb worked with us in many ways help install approx. 6000 meters of SWC works on time and in programme.”
“The gangs on site set a high standard with health and safety and always bought to attention any issues that arose in the correct manner and correct procedure.”
At Extrudakerb, we recognise the pivotal role of training in driving organisational success and employee satisfaction. Our commitment to training over 90% of our workforce to NVQ level 2 or higher underscores our dedication to excellence, innovation, and long-term growth. By investing in training, we empower our employees like Ethan to reach their full potential, contribute meaningfully to our goals, and stay ahead in an ever-evolving business landscape.
Ethan plays a crucial role in overseeing maintenance for all of Extrudakerb’s large plant equipment, including JCBs, Wirtgen paving equipment, ancillary moulds, small plant, and our vehicle fleet. Having joined us nearly a decade ago as an apprentice plant fitter, Ethan excelled in his apprenticeship, leading to his achievement of Level 3 in Plant Maintenance. His recent completion of NVQ Level 3 in Occupational Work Supervision further solidifies his expertise and leadership within our organisation.
Following on from Ethan's success, we have taken on two additional apprentices within our workshop: Mia Lambert as an Apprentice Fabricator and William Vickers as an Apprentice Mechanic. We look forward to seeing their ongoing development and are happy to support them in their careers with us.
Once again, Extrudakerb push the boundaries of completed insitu Central Reserve Concrete Barrier with 632m (180m3) of ECB installed by a single paving team in a single shift.
As we continue to showcase to the industry that ECB is the market leading concrete barrier system, these excellent outputs are only achievable if the site is made available. We therefore once again thank #Costain for their continued support in preparing large sections of site and for having the confidence that we will perform.
Our supply chain of #Tarmac and #GCP were once again on hand providing the support and assistance to make this happen.
Not only are Extrudakerb and #Tarmac focused on pushing boundaries with production, we are also looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint and help the environment. This focus has seen us introduced an “eco-mix” to the project which requires less cementitious material per cubic meter of concrete than traditional mix designs, whilst still providing the required compressive strength.
Not only is ECB the most efficient insitu Central Reserve Concrete Barrier on the market, it is also the kindest to our environment!
Following the recent fund raising clothing collection arranged by Costain’s Richard Paddey, which Extrudakerb were delighted to be involved with, it was our pleasure to be invited along to a presentation and demonstration of the unbelievable work which the Yorkshire Air Ambulance carry out for the people of Yorkshire, and sometimes beyond. The most alarming statistics from the day were the fact that the YAA are called out between 4 and 5 times per day, and that the charity needs to raise an incredible £12,000.00 EVERY day to keep both air ambulances operational.
The passionate presentations by the YAA fund raising and operational teams were certainly very humbling, and then the stark reality of vulnerability hits home, as stories from previous patients who had been unfortunate enough to need the YAA services, but also lucky enough to survive BECAUSE of the YAA teams expertise and response.
This is a charity which Extrudakerb will be looking at ways to support in the future.
www.yaa.org.uk
Following on from the success of Link 1 & 2 Central Reserve works on the M6 J21a to 26 Smart Motorway Project, Extrudakerb remobilised to site mid-April to embark on the Link 3, 4 & 5 Central Reserve works. As expected, the excellent outputs and quality have continued from where they left off, thanks to collaborative working, Extrudakerb’s high tech concrete trucks and a dedicated mobile batch plant supplied by Tarmac.
In the four weeks since works recommenced, 3000m3 of concrete has been placed, slipforming 5km of Surface Water Channel (SWC) and 2km of Extrudakerb’s concrete barrier system (ECB), along with the construction of 120no SWC outfalls.
The slipform SWC works are now complete for the Central Reserve works, which again saw excellent slipform outputs of up to 300 to 350m+ per slipform paver, per shift. The construction of associated SWC outfalls is on target for completion by the end of May, in line with our agreed Construction Programme.
The focus between now and the planned completion (end of June 22) is the Central Reserve barrier which will see the installation of a further 6.5km of ECB along with the construction of various hand lay bifurcations, transitions, and bridge expansion joints. Extrudakerb are once again pushing the boundaries of slipform outputs with the previous peak variable ECB output of 377m already being surpassed, laying down a new marker of 401m.
There will no doubt be challenges along the way, but the delivery of this programme is testament to the collaborative working between Extrudakerb, our supply chain and most importantly our customer, Costain.
Our works on this project continue to showcase what can be achieved with insitu-concrete products as we continue to set new benchmarks.
Further significant investment has been made by Extrudakerb, with the purchase of two more brand new concrete mixer trucks, to enhance their already impressive fleet of self-operated and managed mixer trucks from eight to ten.
Alongside the commercial commitment to continually improve our position within the supply chain, more importantly this investment also creates employment opportunities from within the local community.
The brand new Mercedes Arocs 8x4 chassis, have been completed with a McPhee Mixers 8m3 barrel mixer body. These trucks have been specially designed, and Extrudakerbs Operations and Technical departments were heavily involved from the outset to ensure that these bespoke trucks successfully meet the demands of the fast paced, quality critical nature of a slipform paving concrete pour.
This investment further enhances our reputation within the highways industry of being the market leading slipform contractor within the UK.
The shortlisted entry focuses on the success of the VERIFI® – in transit concrete management used on the M6 J21a to 26 Smart Motorway Project.
Whilst the shortlisted entry is specific to the M6 J21a to 26 Smart Motorway Project, this recognition actually highlights the success of a 2 years collaboration which has seen Extrudakerb and GCP Applied Technologies “innovate the innovation”.
VERIFI® was already an innovation in its own right. For a number of years, GCP Applied Technologies had provided major suppliers within the concrete industry with VERIFI®. The technology had already proven itself as a successful in-transit concrete management tool with higher consistency concrete, but was seldom used with low consistence concrete.
GCP and Extrudakerb’s respective Technical departments worked tirelessly to trial and develop the VERIFI® system. The data required to develop the system could only been collated when the system was in operation. This meant the trials and development had to be undertaken whilst Extrudakerb continued to deliver tight and demanding programmes on various National Highways projects up and down the UK.
Over the course of several months, data was captured, analysed and adjustments were made to the VERIFI® system and as each month went by, improvements in slipform outputs were being realised.
Over the last 12 months, Extrudakerb’s Customers have realised the benefits of the hard work and collaboration between Extrudakerb and GCP, utilising the bespoke algorithm’s that now form part of the VERIFI® system.
We believe the introduction of Extrudakerb’s state of the art bespoke ready mix concrete trucks, the addition of their in-house Concrete and Materials Manager, both perfectly complemented by GCP’s innovative in-transit concrete management tool has seen a collaboration that has offered more to the slipform industry than any other innovation in the last 10 years.
Extrudakerb received the National Highways Award for Outstanding design innovation, using research and development to create efficiencies and continuous improvement earlier in the year and securing this award would further cement our position as the leading specialist slipform concrete contractor in the UK.