This is a £65 million scheme, the proposed route of which crosses the toe of the Wattstown landslide. As part of the Integrated Partnership Team, Halcrow provided multidisciplinary design and project management services to both the Client and Principal Contractor (Costain Ltd) including earthworks design and Geotechnical Advisor roles.

The principle geotechnical tasks for which Halcrow was responsible included:

• design of a stable platform for the road across a landslide, using piles, earthworks and drainage
• fast-track design of a 40m high soil/rock cutting using soil nails and sub-horizontal bored drains to regulate groundwater to design levels
• design of reinforced earth embankments to maximise reuse of site won materials

Other geotechnical tasks included design of a polystyrene embankment, preloading of peat, and catering for mining subsidence and contamination.