LOCATION:
These two projects involved changes to highway layouts and public realm works in Cardiff city centre as part of an integrated transport initiative. Included were innovative 'rain garden’ sustainable drainage systems, the first of their kind to be installed retroactively in a city centre.
Both projects were part of a wider city centre regeneration.
The £8m Central Square project involved installing a new highway layout to improve the bus network, provide improved safety for pedestrians via enhancements to pedestrian crossing facilities and installing a network of stepped cycle routes to connect the area with the cycleway network.
We were subsequently awarded the £2.7m Tudor Street project adjoining the Central Square scheme, extending the highways improvements to the west along a key route into the city centre.
Challenge
The rain gardens required deeper excavation than traditional drainage, which had to be managed carefully in the busy city centre environment adjacent to traffic.
The deep excavation also increases the risk of services being encountered. The rain gardens allow for services to run through them, however in some cases it was discovered that the location of the services was not as anticipated.
The project was adjacent the Principality Stadium, which naturally required safe access for the public to be maintained for events.
Solution
We worked closely with Cardiff Council and the drainage designers to adapt the shape and position of the gardens and adjust the drainage levels. These were the first gardens retrofitted in a city centre location.
We appointed a dedicated public liaison officer to support the site team in managing the stakeholder liaison process. This began during the preconstruction phase, with meetings being held with affected stakeholders to ensure their needs were understood and taken into account when planning and delivering the works.
Outcome
Cardiff Central Square was awarded the 2023 Constructing Excellence Wales Award for Civils Project of the Year and the 2023 ICE Wales Bill Ward Award for Sustainability.
We have subsequently worked with Cardiff Council and designers Burroughs on a number of ECI schemes for future developments, providing buildability advice and lessons learned on rain garden construction at an early stage.
