As part of the £12.6 million Wigan District Flood Alleviation Scheme, engineers at Wigan Borough Council selected a range of Flexcrete products to repair and protect Millingford Brook Culvert which runs beneath the busy A580 East Lancashire Road in Lowton. Constructed in 1930 from reinforced concrete, the double culvert had deteriorated over the years, resulting in exposed rusting steel reinforcement and spalled and missing concrete. The local area is prone to flooding when heavy rainfall, land drainage or sewer problems occur, so remedial works were required to repair the culvert and minimise the risk of flooding in heavy rain.
Many of Flexcrete’s products are compliant with EN1504 – the pan European standard for concrete repair – a fact that positively influenced the Council’s decision to specify Flexcrete materials. Steel Reinforcement Protector 841 was firstly applied to exposed steel to provide corrosion protection, and Monomix repair mortar was used to reinstate spalled and missing areas of concrete. Monolevel FC was applied to provide a fair-faced finish prior to the application of Monodex Ultra – a high performance, elastomeric, decorative anti-carbonation coating with a lifespan of at least 10 years. In areas which were not exhibiting signs of spalling, Cemprotec MCI® 2020 migratory corrosion inhibitor was applied to protect the steel reinforcement and provide additional protection from carbonation and chloride attack.