Remodelling Contract at Twickenham Stadium

A recent contract saw Camfaud at Twickenham Stadium, the Home of England Rugby, remodelling some of the seating areas in the west stand. Our customer was SBS Building Consultants Ltd who were working for the main contractor Ellmer Construction, part of Byrne Group Plc.

Following a site visit to assess the most suitable mobile concrete pump for the job, Camfaud proposed using a Putzmeister BSF 47-5.16H mobile concrete pump. This 47-metre boom pump was specified as the concrete placing boom was long enough to reach the area of seating being remodelled and, equally importantly, it could be set up in the restricted area available outside the playing surface.

The pump output, 160 cubic metres per hour, was not considered in the selection of the pump as only small volumes of concrete were involved and they had to be pumped at a slow speed to allow the SBS concreting team to place and finish the concrete.

The pump’s radio remote control, proportional output valve and end hose shut-off valve allowed the pump operator to work alongside the placing gang, pump at a very slow speed and minimise the spillage from the end hose when moving the boom.

An aluminium temporary roadway/ground protection system was installed to provide access for the pump and concrete mixers and a platform for the pump set-up. Due to the restricted area available for the pump, the M47 was set up using its one-side support (OSS) system.

This allowed the pump to set up safely, fully rigged on the work side and partially rigged on the off side with a interlock preventing the boom from slewing outside of the safe work area. Using the OSS system, the outrigger width was reduced from 9 metres to less than 7 metres. This allowing the pump to set up safely without encroaching onto Twickenham’s “hallowed turf”.

The M47 pump that carried out the work at Twickenham is mounted on a modern Euro 6 truck and thus conforms to the most recent and most onerous emissions reduction legislation. In addition to its green credentials, the truck engine is remarkably quiet and this feature was noticed and commented on by site personnel.