Trent Valley Crematorium is a new development which will help meet the needs of the surrounding communities, in terms of providing cremation and memorial services whilst protecting and enhancing biodiversity and the landscape character of the area. The development proposals offer the rare opportunity to create a well-considered and integrated building and landscape design schemes which builds upon the qualities of the existing site. To create a pleasant, tranquil environment, individual in character and respectful of the needs of bereaved families and friends.
Dignity Funerals had a view to create a Post-Supported gabion wall similar to one previously constructed at a different site, installed by others. Enviromesh were approached by the quantity surveyor at Clegg Construction and ultimately won the job based on previous work with Clegg Construction at the Burcott Grange site in Bromsgrove.
Supply of Stone
The greatest challenge when working on the Trent Valley Crematorium site was sourcing the required stone to match that previously used. After extensive research from the Enviromesh team into finding the correct stone along with built representative samples on site; the client, architect and contractor agreed that a Yorkshire Walling Stone would best suit the project requirements.
The stone was supplied in bulk bags and in various lengths and thicknesses which had to be cut on site to fit the gabion cells. All exposed faces to the gabions (front, ends and rear) had to have the stone positioned with the natural riven face visible to create the desired effect.
Working Space
Working space was restricted with a pond liner to the leading edge of the western side of the building and as such the installation teams were only able to work from one side which presented difficulty when hand facing the unseen exposed face. For reach and stability when working on the higher courses, operators used MEWPS and harnesses to ensure that all health and safety precautions were satisfied.
Alignment
To ensure correct alignment to the walls free from deformation, scaffolding tubes were temporarily secured to the outer 4mm Galfan Coated welded mesh gabion faces during the build process. This along with the time and attention in the placing of the stone all added to the quality of the finished construction.
