Replacing the UK’s ageing infrastructure network of gas and water mains is a constant battle for many of the contractors undertaking this work. Planning operations and communicating with properties affected by the works are just a part of the issue, whilst working with local authorities to gain access to roads and pavements is another.
Over the decades contractors have come along to replace pipework and simply dug out the offending section, repaired it and then backfilled with the excavated material. In many instances, backfilling with inferior material has eventually caused the repair to sink, ending up with further repairs having to be carried out.
For many years contractors have been obliged to reinstate any open trenches with suitable fill material, and compact this to prescribed levels before finishing off the cut with a suitable wearing course. This has obviously reduced the amount of repair works undertaken in the future, but with the need for material to be removed from site and new material brought in, reinstatement times have increased.
With the ability to produce certified, high-quality recycled aggregates, many service supply companies are looking at moving away from virgin materials for reinstatement and moving towards the use of recycled material.
One of the UK’s leading contractors undertaking repair and replacement of gas and water mains throughout London and the surrounding counties is Terrafirma Pipelines. Established in 2001, Terrafirma are a leading performer within the sector and are constantly striving to improve their service to customers. One of these areas is the introduction of tested, certified recycled aggregates meeting their clients’ specifications for use in the reinstatement process.
James Durkin is Terrafirma’s Reinstatement Manager and oversees several reinstatement teams and vehicles following the repair and installation teams around their projects. “We handle over 150 tonnes a day of material taken from our projects which we have historically been tipping at a variety of recycling centres.” He commented. “From there, we have picked up recycled material to return it to our jobs and complete reinstatement works. We were getting bigger and bigger bills for this and decided to look at the possibility of other options to reduce our and our clients’ costs.” James and his management team looked at all possibilities before deciding that investing in their own equipment to undertake recycling works would be the ideal route to follow.
The company’s head office in Stratford, East London, is typical of many yards in the area with limited space for expansion, resulting in the company looking for suitable compact kit to undertake their own recycling operations. Looking across the market, the company approached Molson Equipment, a company they had already had dealings with, to look at their compact crushing and screening solutions from Evoquip, a Terex brand.
Manufactured in Dungannon in Northern Ireland, the Evoquip range of products consists of impact and jaw crushers, scalping screens, conveyors and dust suppression units, all of which are sold and serviced through the network of strategically located Molson depots and home-based engineers.
“Once we had made our initial enquiry with them, Molson were very quick to come back to us with details of suitable jaw crushers and other equipment, and following a demonstration, we placed an order for a Colt 600 inclined scalper and a Bison 160 Hybrid jaw crusher mounted on a hooklift frame.
The Colt 600 is the smallest in the four-model Colt range and has a theoretical output of 280tph. With a 2.34m x 1.37m double deck screen, the Colt 600 is more than capable of handling the mixed material excavated from the service trenches across the capital. “We try to remove as much of the clay that we find in the material before we screen it as it sticks the aggregates together and spoils our testing process.” James commented. “The Bison 160 jaw crusher is a great bit of kit too with its 100tph output and 700mm x 500mm jaw. It handles the incoming material from the Colt quickly and easily, and with its in-built platforms, we can have an operative safely picking out plastic or wood that may make it through the screening process.” The Bison jaw crusher uses a diesel engine to drive an electric motor for the jaw crusher resulting in extremely low fuel consumption for the machine with James reporting a tank of diesel will last almost a full week of operations.
With planning consent for recycling material at the yard granted, the delivery of the Terex Evoquip screening and jaw crusher quickly followed and the first of the stored material processed. “The size of the equipment was an important factor for us with our compact site.” James commented. “Equally important was the productivity available from the machines. This was something that really impressed us with the Evoquip equipment, the capacity of both machines offers us the ability to increase production when we really get going with the venture.” The ability to produce a variety of certified materials suitable for padding pipework and backfilling the trenches has now given Terrafirma a massive cost saving for their operations. “Our reinstatement trucks can now leave the yard in the morning with a load of recycled material, tip, reload with excavated material and tip that back in the yard to start again.” James explained. “At the moment we will only use this facility for works within a certain radius of the yard, but as the machines can be transported and easily set up, we have the opportunity to use them at remote locations should the need arise in the future.”
Both James and his team have been hugely impressed with the way Molson have conducted themselves throughout the purchasing process. “Molson answered our questions quickly and fully and put our minds at rest at all times.” James commented. “Having a demonstration allowed us to see first-hand the capabilities of the screener and jaw crusher with the materials we had was invaluable in us making our final purchasing decision. Overall, they are a great company to deal with and have a brilliant, reliable and productive range available in the Evoquip kit.”
