The construction of a new Crematorium facility in Magor, South Wales.
Westerleigh Group is responsible for 35,000 funerals per year and has 32 sites across England and Wales. Quality and consistency was of the highest priority.
In the heart of the countryside, Langstone Vale Crematorium provides a natural place for families to hold the dignified service of their choice. Bordering the communities of Newport and Monmouthshire, the new crematorium was especially designed in the local rural character so it blends into the countryside.
The works included the installation of the cremator, administrative centre, chapel, associated external works and remembrance area.
The successful delivery of this project resulted in the opportunity of further work with Westerleigh Group at Wootton Bassett Crematorium.
The development was on a green field site and was adjacent to a site of significant scientific interest. Various ecological impact assessments were undertaken which highlighted mitigation measures prior to commencement.
The works included the provision of reptile fences to ensure the construction site did not impact any movement of wildlife. The permanent scheme included various areas of habitat creation. An ECO foul system was included by way of a Klargester BioDisc system. This along with rainwater harvesting improved the environmental credentials of the scheme in this sensitive location.
The scheme included sectional handover of the cremator area ten weeks prior to completion to facilitate the installation of the specialist equipment. Beard coordinated this carefully with the specialist supplier to ensure sufficient services, offloading plant and access was available.
Working next to a site of scientific interest raised concerns in relation to water run off from the project. Issues with Slit would have caused Natural Resources Wales to inspect and apply fines if the run off from the site entered into the site and caused any damage to it.
Ground water became a challenge which caused work on the site such as roads which had been formed out of stone to fail with the amount of water running through the ground. Existing drains which had been installed by previous owners allowed water to course under the field causing the ground to be saturated with water. This caused issues forming roads, digging for foundations and moving plant around the site.
The cremator for the building was extremely large and posted a logistical challenge of getting it from the main Magor Road to the rear of the crematorium. The weight of the machine was 40 tonnes which meant an 80 tonne crane had to be brought onto site.
A silt buster was used on the rear of the site and all water trenches and main site were put through the silt buster. The silt settles to the bottom of the tanks and the water released into the streams running around the site.
After diverting the water through into the silt buster by installing a temporary pump which ran 24 hours a day for three weeks. A permanent solution of free draining stone and land drains were installed under the roads through the site before they were formed. The drainage for these were connected into the streams running around the rear of the site so there was a constant flow of water away.
Working closely with the supplier of the cremator, a logistics plan was formed to ensure the cremator could be brought from Magor Road to the rear of the cremator. A plan was formed with the crane company mapping where the wheels of the crane would be situated on the winding road. With the plan in place the kerbs in this area were not
installed until the crane had been onto site. In these areas additional stone was installed to make the road wider to accommodate the crane.