Projects
Riverside Park, Higham Ferrers, Case Study
We were delighted to undertake these works for Higham Town Council in conjunction with North Northants Council
Objective
Our objective was to rejuvenate 400 metres of pathways that had become uneven and unsafe. The paths were put down many years ago with road plainings, and our job was to resurface with Type 1 MOT granite and granite dust
About the project
It was very important to the Council that we keep the park open for the duration of the works. The park sits between two housing estates and is used for more than just recreational use. With the weather being reasonably dry at the time, we opted to close short sections of the paths at a time, and divert people onto the grass. We put signage up and offered to assist people around our works should they require.
The paths had been laid at 1.5m wide originally, but some were down to less than a metre wide, with grass and vegetation having encroached in from both sides. Our first job was to scrape off the vegetation, and to hopefully find an existing path underneath, which hadn’t been contaminated too much. Generally the paths were okay, and in the main they just needed blinding with Type 1 MOT to smoothen out the levels.
We then applied a thin layer of 0-4mm granite dust to the paths, which we compacted in, with a ride-on roller. Lastly we laid topsoil and grass seed to either side of the paths.
There was also a small ‘bridge’ formed with railway sleepers, where a natural stream ran underneath, during wetter weather. We replaced this using oak timbers, to give it a long lifespan going forward. And on top of the timbers we fixed wire mesh, to stop them becoming slippery when wet.
It was a pleasure to carry out these works, on behalf of North Northamptonshire Council and Higham Ferrers Council, we had plenty of compliments at the end of the works, and it was great to work on this project on our doorstep and to have made such a cosmetic difference.
