Tensartech saves time and materials for Mansfield hospital car parking construction

A new car parking area for 77 cars at Mansfield Community Hospital has been constructed with savings in time, cost savings in materials and has made a reduced environmental impact, by using Tensartech Earth Retaining structure technology.

“Using the Tensartech solution saved more than 50% in materials and time costs over the conventional reinforced concrete, buttressed retaining wall structure originally proposed,” commented Vince Hackett, Director of groundwork contractors North Midland Construction. “Additionally, the site is very constrained and creating formwork and pouring concrete would have been extremely difficult in such a tight space. The Tensartech solution has minimal plant requirements.”

The car park project is part of an ongoing redevelopment and upgrade of Mansfield Community Hospital, and is included in the £320 million Modernisation of Acute Services in Central Nottinghamshire project for Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Nottinghamshire County Teaching Primary Care Trust At Mansfield Community Hospital, the work includes the refurbishment of the ward accommodation and construction of a new outpatients and administration facilities and will be completed in 2009.

The new car park is being constructed on the sloping area in front of the new Pavilion Building by creating a level site, bounded at one end by an ellipsoid retaining wall with a maximum height of 4 metres. The Tensartech retaining structure comprises compacted site won fill material which is stabilised by layers of Tensar uniaxial geogrid fixed to TW1 modular concrete blocks using a unique polymer connector.

The TW1 blocks are dry laid by hand, so eliminating time for curing mortar. For this project, the client wanted a natural stone facing so, to accommodate this, stainless steel ties were incorporated to secure the finished cladding of a locally quarried stone. This enabled full loadbearing capacity for completing the car park to be achieved immediately, without waiting for an in-situ concrete wall to gain structural strength, thus saving contract time. As well as local stone facings, the wall is capped with granite copings and incorporates feature lighting and stainless steel handrails.

“The Tensartech solution saved a significant amount of time on the project,” added Matt Barnes, Project Engineering Manager for Skanska. “In particular expensive and time consuming temporary works like curved formworks and support structures and saved on this material. It represents an excellent sustainable solution for retaining structures.”