Balfour Beatty VINCI have announced that over half of the required concrete for HS2 has been poured in the West Midlands, reaching a significant milestone for the project
Over one million cubic metres of HS2’s concrete has been poured.
The networks viaducts and bridges will span over 90km, and require 1.9m3 of concrete.
HS2’s concrete has three suppliers
Balfour Beatty VINCI are supplied by Aggregate Industries, Tarmac, and Cemex, who throughout the course of construction have supported over 250 jobs.
The three suppliers have 11 batching plants, five of which are located on HS2 sites, and the entire West Midlands concrete programme is ran by Balfour Beatty at Lea Marston’s HS2 Kingsbury site.
The milestone of reaching the halfway point was achieved at North Warwickshire’s Delta Junction, while constructing the Chattle Hill structure.
Balfour Beatty are minimising carbon output
The concrete being used is lower carbon, having a lot of secondary materials added to the mix such as ground granulated blast furnace slag, adding strength and lowering carbon emissions in the mixture.
Electric trucks are also often used to transport the cement to sites, and two of the batching sites run on semi-battery technology, further reducing carbon output.
The concrete then covers a variety of uses, including being used for foundation structures up to 30 metres deep, placed using tremie pipes, as well as large structural elements and segments of tunnel lining and viaduct spans produced in onsite factories.
Chris Jones, senior construction manager at Balfour Beatty VINCI Joint Venture, said: “The planning, communication and logistics management needed to achieve this milestone cannot be underestimated. Working in partnership with our three concrete suppliers, the team have kept this massive operation moving, supporting delivery of HS2’s construction programme in the region.
“Carbon reduction is a big part of our materials strategy, and we’ve worked closely with our supply chain to minimise the total cementitious contents in order to cut carbon and cost.”
