This year we welcomed Biffa Waste Services Limited as a new client for engineering work at the company’s Welford Landfill Site. 

Welford Landfill Site is situated adjacent to Junction 1 of the A14 in Northamptonshire and the new construction works entailed the capping of three existing cells and the development of two new cells.  The following will provide an indication of the scale of the new works:- 

            Excavation                                         280,000m³

            Surface Area for Lining                         175,000m²

            Materials Volume                                 258,000m³ 

The rôle of Robert Long Consultancy was to develop the construction specification, prepare the contract documents and undertake the review of submitted tenders.  When the contract was awarded, RLCL undertook the Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) responsibilities that included the production of the CQA Plan, full time CQA supervision and the production of the CQA Report. 

The site was subject to strict material movement restrictions and no materials were allowed to be removed from site.  Consequently, it was vital that the site-derived materials were maximised in the construction works.  This was not straightforward as the new cells were located in the area of old silt lagoons.  In conjunction with the design team of BWSL and the Environment Agency, we developed the specification of the composite lining system to suit the latest EA guidelines, whilst maximising the usage of the site-derived materials and balancing the requirements of the capping system to suit the volume of the excavated materials. 

This was achieved and the new works are being developed to the latest construction specification whilst conforming to the site requirements and maximising the customer’s resources.