Description of Works
FM Conway was engaged by Westminster City Council to deliver crucial resurfacing works for Abbey Road to ensure it continued welcoming fans – and safely allow them to cross the road – for years to come. As the council’s term maintenance contractor, FM Conway delivers planned maintenance services for Westminster’s roads as part of an integrated asset management approach.
Contracts Manager, Liam Horn, explained:
“Abbey Road was identified as one of the roads in the St John’s Wood area that needed surface renewal and we programmed the work as part of a wider local project, planned to minimise disruption for the public.”
The team laid a hot-rolled asphalt mix, which was produced at FM Conway’s Heathrow asphalt plant and designed to maximise durability. Any highway arisings recovered from the site were returned to the plant for re-use as recycled content on other highway projects.
Existing as the ‘music mecca’, it was inevitable that Abbey Road would attract mass amounts of tourists. Therefore, careful planning was vital to deliver the works safely at such a high-profile location, minimising our impact on the public. The team ensured that stakeholders were notified early about the works, with additional signs located in the local area so that residents, business owners and tourists could plan ahead. Further engagement was also undertaken with neighbouring institutions including Lord’s Cricket Ground and the Hospital of Saint John and Saint Elizabeth, so that any disruption was significantly minimised.
Liam adds: "People travel from all over to come and see Abbey Road and we knew that we’d be working in close proximity to the public while the works were ongoing."
Liam Horn - Contracts Manager at FM ConwayWe phased the project to deliver the Abbey Road section of the programme as efficiently as possible and deliver the crossing renewal last to avoid disappointing fans.
Utilising our self-delivery model, the surfacing gang also worked in partnership with FM Conway’s traffic management division, who planned comprehensive road and footway diversions and provided extra traffic management operatives to marshal pedestrians around the site and keep them safe.