PROJECT: BLYTHE VALLEY PARK - SOLIHULL
CLIENT: BVP DEVELOPMENTS
CONTRACT VALUE: £12 MILLION
CONTRACT DURATION: 60 WEEKS

This project involved the provision of infrastructure, bulk earthworks and landscaping on a 175 acre site for a prestigious business park in the centre of the UK motorway network next to junction 4 of the M42.

Bulk earthworks required the moving of some 250,000 m3 of material in cut-to-fill operations on site.

The infrastructure work consisted of the construction of three roundabouts (one on an existing A-road) and 700 metres of road, including footways and cycleways, together with foul and storm drainage with five storm water balancing lagoons and a concrete box-culvert under the main spine road.

The provision of all mains services to the plots was included in the contract.

The contract also included the requirement to develop land adjacent to the business park to form a country park for use by occupants and the general public. Weldon developed a 'Green Strategy' for the site which covers some 40 hectares of publicly accessible open space, and has been designed to include a rich mosaic of nature conservation woodland, grassland, hedgerows, streams and wetland, at the edge of the Business Park.

The work undertaken by Weldon in the county park area included constructing man made balancing lagoons, footpaths, wooden bridges, signage and the soft landscaping which included the installation of reed beds and a significant amount of tree planting.

A total of 3,500m of new footpaths and cycle paths, with lengths of boardwalk and bridges, provide access into the Countryside Park. These connect into the existing Solihull Borough right of way network and include a 1,200m long stretch of the new Blythe Valley Walkway which in the future will connect South Solihull with Cheswick Green.