HS2 is Britain’s new high-speed railway, sponsored by the Department for Transport, aiming to upgrade the country’s domestic rail links to boost the national economy. The C1 section links the suburbs of North-West London with the rich countryside of the Colne Valley Regional Park and the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The project is being delivered by the Align Joint Venture (Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine, and VolkerFitzpatrick).
Longworth Facades was contracted to deliver the roof, wall and louvre package for all five headhouses and two portal buildings along the Chiltern Tunnel route in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The buildings will house tools and equipment needed to maintain the high-speed line once complete, with the minimalist designs chosen to blend into and complement the surrounding countryside.
Longworth Facades is a national envelope contractor with its roots in the North West of England, and has been working closely with Encon & Nevill Long North West in Chorley for almost 15 years. The North West team was delighted to continue to support Longworth throughout the lifespan of such a prestigious project.
At the outset, Phil Warner, Encon’s Regional Roofing & Cladding Manager, formulated a detailed breakdown of the materials, quantities, transport requirements and costs associated with delivering to each of the seven sites, while Sarah Morrissey, Internal Sales – Structural, managed the logistics.
Phil comments: “Coordinating projects at this scale requires a holistic approach to planning, particularly when working across seven different sites with overlapping programmes. We aimed to make this as easy as possible for Longworth by outlining the package we could provide, which allowed them to place bulk orders as required.
“Sarah managed the orders to ensure deliveries were correct and on time, ensuring we had all the required materials in stock to service the next three deliveries in advance and in doing so, avoiding delays caused by variable lead times. Deliveries were then completed to schedule, while maintaining flexibility to add materials at short notice.”
In addition, the team at our North West branch ensured compliance with all the systems and processes in place on the project. For deliveries to gain site access, strict regulations needed to be met, meaning organisation, logistics and attention to detail were paramount.
Liz James, Technical Procurement Lead at Longworth Facades, comments: “Encon’s experience working on major projects meant they understood the requirements and had the required processes in place to avoid issues. Deliveries had to be booked in a day in advance, while materials, vehicles, routes and drivers all had to be compliant to be allowed onto site.
“Running a large-scale project with multiple sites has its challenges, but Encon’s organisation and support helped everything run smoothly. Something as simple as a vehicle not having the correct markings or using an unapproved route could have caused significant delays, but every delivery was correct, on time and compliant. Strong relationships with reliable suppliers like Encon make our job so much easier and really help to take the pressure off.”
To find out more about our support for major infrastructure projects, including our ISO 19443 accreditation, visit our Infrastructure specialism webpage. Email our dedicated infrastructure team on infrastructure@encon.co.uk or find your local Encon & Nevill Long branch.
Project Overview
Architect: Grimshaw
Client: HS2 Ltd / Align Joint Venture
Specialist Contractors: Longworth Facades
Materials Used: ROCKWOOL RAINSCREEN DUO SLAB
ROCKWOOL HardRock® Underlay Slab
Distributor: Encon & Nevill Long North West
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