Product category:
Materials
News Release from: Instarmac Group | Subject: Constitution Hill project
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 28 December 2004
Swansea 're-establishes' its
constitution
Work on Constitution Hill, Swansea City's historic and famous landmark, undertaken by Dawnus Construction was entirely in sympathy with its original charm and Victorian character.
Since the late nineteenth century Constitution Hill, Swansea City's historic and famous landmark, has served the City well One of the steepest streets in Britain it has, since Victorian times, witnessed the transit of thousands of vehicles from horse-drawn carriages, penny-farthing bicycles, probably the first Ford 'Model T' and latterly cars, trucks and even a railway line
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 28 Apr 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The celebrated incline was also employed as part of the course for a 'Round Britain' Cycle Race.
More recently, the steeply inclined cobbled highway has been the subject of major improvements (part of Swansea's £10m city wide improvement scheme) to restore its former glory and to make it safer for road users.
Many years of trafficking had taken its toll and left Constitution Hill in desperate need of resurfacing.
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The entire project, undertaken by Swansea based Dawnus Construction Limited, was carried out entirely in sympathy with the street's historic attributes, its original charm and Victorian character.
Work also included the installation of period street furniture, lighting, signposts and handrails.
Most of the in situ cobbles were re-set using Cembuild HS bedding mortar and Flowpoint grout, manufactured by Tamworth based Instarmac Group plc.
Cembuild HS, formulated to meet the demands of BS7533, was specified to provide the necessary strength and durability for the re-laying of recycled and new cobbles.
The shrinkage compensated cementitious mortar can be applied at depths of between 10mm and 75mm, in one pass.
It bonds strongly to the prepared substrate and is resistant to frost attack.
In tests, the material achieves a compressive strength of 14N/mm² in three days and 25N/mm² within 28 days at 20ºC, by which time it gains a tensile strength of 2.3N/mm² and a flexural strength of 5N/mm².
The reinstated cobbles were grouted with Instarmac's Flowpoint primarily because of its fast setting properties.
These qualities proved of major benefit given that conventional materials would simply not have remained in place during cure on the steep incline.
Flowpoint is a one part, flowable, shrinkage compensated grout that bonds strongly without the need for priming and once fully cured, provides a very hard wearing finish.
It sets initially within 30 minutes at 20ºC and develops a compressive strength of 10N/mm² after 24 hours and 25N/mm² within 7 days.
Mike Hedges, Cabinet Member for Technical Services commented, "To provide a full renovation was always going to be expensive but as part of our commitment to preserving our heritage it is important that the job was done right".
" It would have been a lot cheaper to cover it in tarmac but if that had happened, a feature of Swansea could have been lost for ever" he added.
Anthony O'Sullivan, Swansea Council's Head of Transportation and Engineering said, "We wanted to create a street designed with modern safety criteria but without losing the historical and natural look that is so important to Swansea's heritage.".
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