A former industrial site in the heart of the West Midlands is being transformed into 106 affordable new homes.

The £17million site in Bagnall St, West Bromwich is being led by client, Midland Heart Housing, in partnership with Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, the Homes and Communities Agency, and Mansell Construction Services.

The scheme is due to be completed in early 2012 and will consist of two-bedroom apartments and two, three and four-bedroom homes, which will be available for rent, or rent-to-home buy. The new development has been designed around an old canal and will create a green park area for all residents to enjoy as part of the work.

The Bagnall Street development is on 4.8 acres of a former metal drawing and treatment company and due to its former use, a full geo-technical remediation of the site is required to the approval of the local authority and Environment Agency.

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NI firm FP McCann, based in Magherafelt, has secured the contract to supply 78 off 1800mm x 800mm box culverts on to the scheme to form an attenuation tank. The units were cast with an integral 150mm diameter channel and benching to improve flow rates in dry weather.

Each unit weighs approximately 6 tonnes and because of the directional changes required in the culvert line, skewed joint faces have had to be cast into a number of the culverts.

Also built into specified units are inlet and outlet points and pipe adaptors have been connected as required. Access holes were provided in the roof of the units. These, combined with the integral channel mean minimal work was required on site to connect to the rest of the drainage system, and no in-situ cast was required. FP McCann manholes, slabs and adjusting units will complete the works, allowing access into the culvert from ground level for inspection.

The McCann team at Telford has worked closely with both the designers and Mansell site personnel to establish the correct configurations of direction changes in the culvert and to put a delivery plan in place to ensure the just-in-time supply of units; a schedule due for completion the first week in February.

(GK)