PROJECT EXAMPLE: FULL EXCAVATION FOR a commercial DEVELOPER IN HAMPSHIRE
Japanese Knotweed Ltd was contracted by a large UK house builder to carry out full excavation of three stands of knotweed on a site planned for development. This was a site with several challenges, made worse by the inclement weather causing unusually soggy ground conditions.
Working with waterlogged ground
First it was important to get the knotweed sites cordoned off with fencing to create a bio-security zone. A job not made easy by the ground being flooded in places. After the pre-dig checks and permits obtained we were able to start, and we supplied two concrete road barriers at 2.5m width, to blockade site access during works.
Managing a challenging site
Due to the severely waterlogged ground, the loading area at the site entrance had to be carefully managed due to close proximity of overhead electric cables which meant we couldn’t load the lorries directly at the access gate. We installed temporary hard standing within the site to allow safe access and loading of HGVs and delivery of welfare units.
There were a number of large established trees within the vicinity of the knotweed stands as well as areas of vegetation that needed to be cleared not only as part of the knotweed excavation but to enable our client’s planned development work to begin afterwards.
Additionally, nesting birds were a necessary consideration and prevented us from excavating the fourth area of knotweed.
helped by specialist vehicles
The knotweed and waste soils were double handled, and due to the conditions we had to use specialist tracked dumper trucks to cart it across very wet fields to where it could be transported to landfill. These trucked are geared to use in waterlogged conditions and are essential to get soils moved from one area to another on sites such as these.
A successful outcome
In total an area exceeding 53m2 was cleared of knotweed, and a centrifugal pump was used to empty the excavated voids of excess groundwater, leaving a site that was scraped back and ready for development
Vegetation clearance is a necessary part of most development projects. If you’d like us to quote for clearing land ready for development get in touch with the team.