Southall Waterside Development

Description of Works
FM Conway has played a key role in opening the construction for the development of the Berkeley West Thames’ Southall Waterside scheme, one of London’s most exciting new residential developments delivering 3,750 new homes.

FM Conway opened up the site by constructing two new bridges - a 42-metre-span structure over the Grand Union Canal and a 24 metre concrete bridge over Yeading Brook – as well as a 400 metre road to provide vehicle and pedestrian access from the western side of the development.

Services used on this project Major Projects Aggregates & Asphalt Surfacing

Challenges and Solutions

The nature of the scheme has created several technical challenges, calling for FM Conway to think innovatively to deliver the critical works.

Construction of the new bridge over the Grand Union Canal required complex programming to deliver the structure against tight timescales and with limited access. The four 43.5 metre steel girders for the bridge, weighing at 75 tonnes, were manufactured offsite for greater efficiency and whilst work to secure 116 sheet piles 7.5 metres into the canal to support the structure was underway. Because of limited access, the decision was taken by the team to install the piles from the water using pontoons, saving valuable programming time.

The works were further complicated by the close proximity of the Great Western rail line, requiring extra close attention to be paid to the construction process to ensure the safety of those on site and prevent any obstruction of the railway.

Derek Daly, Project Manager at FM Conway, explains:
“It’s a challenging, but exciting project to be involved in – it’s not often that you get to play such a key role in helping to regenerate a major part of London."

Southall Waterside Development thumbnail

The knowledge, enthusiasm, skill and effort of the whole FM Conway team has been vital to keeping the programme on track and meeting the technical challenges of the works.

Derek Daly - Project Manager at FM Conway

Delivering Innovation

Derek Daly explains: “The construction of the new bridges and road is the vital first step in kick-starting the development. Once they are in place, Berkeley West Thames can open up the Southall Waterside scheme to wider construction traffic, and begin really transforming the site."

Our focus here at FM Conway is centered around careful phasing of the Western access works, delivering as much of the project in parallel with other preliminary construction activity as possible to cut down timescales.

FM Conway’s programme has been boosted by the fact that the majority of the construction materials for the scheme can be sourced from the business’s Heathrow asphalt plant, which lies less than half a mile west of the site; reinforcing and contributing towards FM Conway’s self-delivery promise.

Derek adds: “It’s a complex programme and having the Heathrow plant so close has been a major benefit. It not only gives us full control over our materials supply chain, but also cuts down the need for storage on the constricted site. In delivering the earthworks for the new structures, we’ve been able to import by barge on the canal, saving time as well as reducing vehicle movements in the local area.”