In 2007 Aone+, a joint venture comprising Halcrow, Colas and Costain, was appointed by the Highways Agency as Managing Agent Contractor for Area 10 – one of the largest and busiest road networks in the UK.
Located in the North West of England and carrying the highest volumes of traffic outside London, it comprises some 500km of motorway and carriageways and over 2,500 structures. With a duration of five years and valued at £275 million, the Area 10 contract comprised the day-to-day operational management and maintenance of the road network, including the repair and maintenance of motorway bridges, many of which showed signs of spalled and delaminated concrete and rusting exposed steel reinforcement, caused by water ingress, chloride attack and carbonation.
Flexcrete concrete repair products were approved by Aone+ for use in this high profile project as they are CE-marked to EN 1504 and meet the high performance required by the Highways Agency Specification Clause 1770. Fastfill repair mortar was used in areas where it was critical to achieve rapid high strength and Monomix waterproof mortar was also specified due to its ability to achieve application thicknesses of up to 80mm in a single layer. Exposed reinforcement was protected using Steel Reinforcement Protector 841 and finally, Cementitious Coating 851 was applied to provide protection against water ingress, chloride attack and carbonation. All the products used are quick and easy to apply direct to concrete without the need for a primer, ensuring that minimal disruption was caused to the motorway network.