CASE STUDIES

City and County of Swansea...

An ambitious vision for a "vibrant and dynamic" waterfront city unveiled. Embraced in this vision, Swansea plans to transform the current busy highway corridor that runs from Oystermouth Road to Quay Parade into a true European-style boulevard.

To advance the design of the boulevard beyond the feasibility phase, Swansea first had to find out what buried utilities were in the boulevard corridor and the impact of these on the design. From statutory records they knew the ground was congested but it was vital to the design that all utilities were identified and accurately mapped.

This was a huge undertaking. Oystermouth and adjoining roads are some of the busiest routes in the city and it was crucial that disruption to the traffic flow was kept to an absolute minimum. The traditional method of digging holes in the road to locate and identify buried utilities was not an option.

When Swansea called on SUMO to submit a proposal on how this could be done, SUMO devised a programme which kept pedestrian and vehicle traffic disruption to a minimum and which allowed uninterrupted access to the carriageway and footways for their non-invasive utility detection equipment. Agreed by Swansea Transportation and Highways Department, SUMO implemented a program of works, much of which was carried out at night. The site work was completed swiftly and smoothly and according to plan.

SUMO’s pioneering utility detection methodology, using ground probing radar and electromagnetics accurately detects and plots not only the main utilities but also the service connections. A vast amount of data was collected on site which was then processed at SUMO’s dedicated drawing office to produce high quality detailed utility maps in an easy to read format.

The next challenge was how to manage the huge volume of utility information detected along more than eight thousand linear metres of heavily congested carriageway and footway. SUMO devised a unique method of presenting the survey results to Swansea enabling designers the option of digital data, bound project packs and laminated drawing packs intended for construction teams working in all weather conditions and site environments.

The Boulevard survey was ranked as one of the largest street surveys in South Wales this year and was completed on time and on budget.