M1 Motorway widening Scheme Civil Engineering Case Study

Morgan Est, VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Sir Robert McAlpine, working as joint venture MVM, have started work on site to widen the M1 motorway near Nottingham.

The M1 Project

The £340 million pound project is to widen the existing motorway using a technique known as symmetrical widening. This leaves the existing centre-line of the road alone whilst widening by an equal amount on each side, so increasing from three lanes with a hard shoulder, to four lanes with a hard shoulder. The project spans from Junction 25 to Junction 28 and is one of the largest that the Highways Agency has developed in the last 10 years.

M1 Bridge Parapet Removal

Gnat UK was contacted to send two of their Brokk 180 robotic demolition machines fitted with concrete crushing attachments to remove the parapets from the motorway bridges. Working alongside the French engineers and their English counterparts, the initial enabling works have reached completion on the 1st phase.

Why use BROKK?

To have the same power and production rates utilising conventional equipment wasn’t feasible – the size of the machines required just wouldn’t fit within the confined area between the safety barriers and the parapet.

The solution

The electrically powered Brokk 180, weighing in at just under 2 tonnes, has the performance in excess of a 5 tonne conventional machine plus the size, strength and maneouvrability to tackle the project with ease... David and Goliath all over again!