Murphy has successfully completed a repair and strengthening project in St John’s Wood – and all under the cover of darkness.
The work was carried out on retaining walls next to railway lines at Alexandra Road stretching over 30 metres, during six months of night-time possessions. Murphy was called in when Network Rail discovered the walls were deteriorating and in a poor condition.
Murphy installed more than 50 soil nails to stabilise the walls. The team also repaired 100sq m of damaged brickwork, cleared 60m of channel drainage and installed 43 ground anchors.
Tony Butler, senior site manager for the project, spoke about the successful project. He said: “I was really happy with how the project went. The team worked hard to get this delivered on time. The site was in the middle of London and all works were during night-time possessions over a six month period, so it was great to deliver the project on time, despite the time restrictions we had put in place.”
The team at St John’s Wood had up to 25 operatives on site, working with two drilling rigs, four tower lights and two core-drilling rigs to make the two retaining walls stable and safe for the foreseeable future.
Tony added: “Using a road rail access point for track protection during the works gave us more time to get the work done during possessions. We also kept up good communication with designers to quickly resolve any technical queries.”
With the project now completed the team will move on to other nearby jobs for Network Rail, such as a major drainage project at Primrose Hill in Camden.
