Experts at Birmingham-based civil and structural engineering consultancy CWA Ltd have shaved nearly £8 million off the cost of a developing a £48 million business park in Minworth.
Work has just finished on a huge £10 million 400,000 sq ft building on Prologis’s Midpoint 2 business park which, along with other units, has been built on former sewage sludge beds. But thanks to CWA’s expertise and capabilities, the sewage sludges were stabilised, resulting in substantial savings for the developer.
CWA engineers developed an innovative method of treating the sludge with lime and cement stabiliser, which allowed building work to be carried out unimpeded. The latest building has now been let as a 24-hour-a-day logistics unit for freight distribution company, The Pallet Network. Work is now under way on a new 127,000 sq ft speculative development on the same site.
CWA director Dave Copeland said the costs benefits of using stabilised sewage sludge resulted in an extremely efficient development for the client.
“This project involved a major earthworks exercise to bring half of the site out of flood plain, and the creation of a new secondary river channel to provide flood compensation storage. In addition to that there was a need to stabilise 90,000 square metres of sewage sludge, all of which was completed successfully,” he said
CWA Ltd, based in the Jewellery Quarter, was established in 2011 as Copeland Wedge Associates. The consultancy provides civil and structural design consultancy services to a wide range of sectors including leisure, residential, education, health, industrial, retail, infrastructure and public bodies.
Major clients include Willmott Dixon Construction and Housing, Balfour Beatty, Seven Capital, RO Developments, Prologis, IM Properties, Speller Metcalfe, Wates Construction and Bullock Construction.
The company has delivered buildings for major end-user clients including West Midlands Police, Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council, Northamptonshire County Council, Housing 21, Midland Heart, Rooftop Housing, Orbit Homes, Chevin Homes, Wrekin Housing, University of Warwick, Aston University, Coventry Sports Foundation and Marks and Spencer.