Description of Works
FM Conway worked on resurfacing the Northern Perimeter Road around Heathrow airport. The contract, which had a value of £2 million, covers several packages of work to the route, which is used by customer traffic to access the airport and its services, including hotels and car hire locations.
Covering a total length of 4km, the improvement works drew on a wide range of skills from across the business, including planing, surfacing, traffic management and road marking as well as kerbing, drainage repairs and the installation of road signs. The team completed a two-phase package of works, which saw them remove the asphalt along the east ramp and inbound carriageway leading into the central terminal area of the airport, before laying a new high-quality mix.
The team successfully maintained a challenging schedule to ensure that the airport remained fully operational and with minimal disruption to customers. Work on the project was limited to a short window from 10pm until 4am, with no flexibility for any element of the project to overrun.
In line with its focus on self-delivery, FM Conway supplied materials for the project from its Heathrow asphalt plant. This included FM Conway’s high-performance Surephalt HD PMB range in the base, binder and surface course layers. Where a deeper pavement was required, the team used an EME2 15/25 pen material to give stiffness and durability to a failing substrate on the tunnel approach road.
Kevin Collins - Contract Manager at FM ConwayBeing able to self-deliver our own material for the project has been critical. It has ensured that we can maintain close control over the programme and coordinate the works without having to rely on third parties.
Kevin Collins, Contract Manager at FM Conway, explains:
“As the UK’s largest airport, Heathrow sees a huge volume of traffic from staff, travellers and visitors every day. Closing the route is not an option, so we have had to adhere to extremely constrained working periods.
“Being able to self-deliver our own material for the project has been critical. It has ensured that we can maintain close control over the programme and coordinate the works without having to rely on third parties.”
Ross Brophy, Project Manager at Ferrovial Agroman, added that close collaboration across the team ensured the project ran smoothly:
“We were very impressed by FM Conway’s work on the Northern Perimeter Road. The route is an important link for the airport, meaning that it is critical that disruption is minimised. The team has understood this from day one – delivering the programme to a tight schedule and maintaining good relationships with stakeholders across the project.”