ALDERLEY EDGE, CHESHIRE

We produced large precast concrete beams to form part of a rail bridge over the bypass in the Cheshire village of Alderley Edge near Wilmslow.

These beams, which formed part of a rail bridge over the bypass around the pretty Cheshire village of Alderley Edge near Wilmslow, were placed during the Christmas 72 hour railway closure.

The beams weighed in at 133 tonnes which included 19 tonnes of steel reinforcement in each. They were loaded then delivered by specialist transport to site where they were subsequently assembled together with the steel bridge.

The pouring of the beams was meticulously planned utilising a concrete pump as well as both of CCP’s Batching Plants to ensure that a high rate of pouring could be maintained. Unusually, for structures of this size, the maximum aggregate size was 10mm, principally due to the levels of steel reinforcement and their proximity to each other.

The beams were joined together with the steel bridge structure using four 50mm thick bearing plates cast into the beams. The whole tonne structure was then lifted into place using a lifting beam connected to the 50mm stainless steel Macalloy cast in.

Once the 700 tonnes structure had been placed, the bridge was then post tensioned. Work continued with the road below where the level needed to be dropped some six metres below the new bridge.