Milestone reached in Chesterfield Canal Restoration

This week saw the installation of a 35m span bridge (part of the Trans-Pennine Trail) by O’Brien Contractors Ltd to mark a key milestone in the multimillion-pound regeneration of Chesterfield Canal.

Appointed by The Chesterfield Canal Trust through a competitive tender process, Rodgers Leask undertook design work for the canal scheme to RIBA Stage 3+, when it was tendered to Contractors.

Our appointment as Lead Consultant not only required input from our Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Geo-environmental and Transport Planning teams, but also saw us oversee supply chain partners including Landscape Architect and Principal Designer.

Throughout our commission, we worked closely with the Canal Trust, other key stakeholders and their appointed Project Manager and Cost Consultant, to allow cost plans and programme to be continuously updated as designs evolved.

Our scope included the design of a new canal lock, a private bridge (plus the integration of earthworks and levels design with the Trans-Pennine Trail bridge designer), Public Right of Way diversions and flood compensation areas.

In addition to our design input, we were also tasked with scoping a Phase 2 Site Investigation to determine the properties of the existing ground and also an off-site stockpile of material (kindly donated by Suon Ltd) which is proposed to be used as embankment material and ‘liner’ for the canal.

Our Geo-environmental team was responsible for obtaining the necessary Coal Authority permit along with commissioning, supervising and reporting on the physical site investigation works which comprised approximately 30 trial hole, borehole and window sample locations.

To enable the import of material from off-site which is to be used as ‘liner’ for the canal, there was a need for a new temporary highway access to be created for construction vehicles.

Our Transport Planning team liaised with the local Highway Authority and produced a Transport Assessment for vehicle movements to demonstrate the proposals are appropriate. Following this, we produced detailed Section 278 drawings which were technically approved by Derbyshire County Council.

The temporary highway access can be seen adjacent to the Contractor compound area on the drone image below:

We’re delighted to see this project making good progress on site and look forward to the reinstatement of the canal beneath the bridge in the new year along with the construction of the new lock and private bridge.