Brett Delivering Concrete Solutions For Crossrail
Brett Concrete has played an important role in Europe’s biggest construction project, Crossrail, which is set to revolutionise travel in London.
Brett Concrete has played an important role in Europe’s biggest construction project, Crossrail, which is set to revolutionise travel in London.
The 42 kilometres of tunnels currently being built beneath the capital call for 250,000 concrete tunnel segments, 110,000 of which have been supplied by Brett Concrete’s bespoke plant in Chatham Dockyard.
The concrete for these tunnel segments is made to a very high strength specification using sand drawn from Brett Aggregates quarry near Ipswich which is transported by barge to the manufacturing facility in Chatham. From there the finished tunnel segments make their way to the entrance to Crossrail’s eastern tunnels at Canning Town, again by barge.
“We are delighted to be involved in such a prestigious contract,” says Chris Chapman, Managing Director of Brett Concrete. “It is a testament to the capabilities of an independent supplier that we secured the order."
Once completed in 2018, Crossrail will pass through 40 stations and run all the way from Reading to Heathrow and then underground to Shenfield and Abbey Wood to the east of London. Each train will carry twice as many passengers as at present, bringing an additional 1.5 million people within a 45 minute commute of London’s key business districts. The project promises to deliver £42 billion worth of benefits to the UK economy.
Below is a video about the project which also shows how the tunnels are created using concrete segments like those manufactured by Brett Concrete at the Chatham site:
To find out more information about current progress on the Crossrail project please visit: www.crossrail.co.uk/