PROJECT
Ebbsfleet – Earthworks
At the turn of the century plans were announced by the government to create a new town in North Kent.
Consisting of up to 15,000 new homes, 6 million ft² of commercial space and 3 million ft² of retail, leisure, community and education facilities based within the former chalk quarries and cement manufacturing facilities in the area.
The location chosen was close to the M2 / M25 junction, The Queen Elizabeth II bridge and the new HS1 and Eurostar terminal. In 2014 these plans were formalised, and Ebbsfleet Garden City was born.
Technical challenges
One of the primary areas for development is Eastern Quarry which covers 660 acres and is one of the UK’s largest residential schemes with permission for 6,250 homes, two education campuses, and several local retail and community facilities.
To facilitate the development platforms and to allow for the delivery of the necessary infrastructure for a scheme of this scale, we commenced on the earthworks phases of the project in 2018 for Landsec.
The earthworks are due to complete in 2023 and will involve;
• 176ha ecological management and destructive search
• 6,400,000m3 excavation and filling in permanent position
• 2,600,000m3 stockpile relocation
• 450,000m3 screening unsuitable material
• 525,000m3 of lake bed and settlement tank material stabilised
• 150,000m3 rock chalk excavated
One of the unmistakable features of the site is the very large Western Cross lake that needed draining.
The lake contains some six billion litres. We developed a pumping strategy that has meant we have constructed 12km of pumping main out to two new outfall headwalls on the Thames foreshore on the Northfleet peninsula. Over 1km of these mains were directional drilled to preserve a SSSI and to prevent disruption to a Network Rail bridge.
SERVICE OVERVIEW
Works at Ebbsfleet have included ecological management, excavation, stockpile relocation and material screening.
