In 2004, John Martin Construction Ltd, later acquired by BAM Nuttall, constructed a new bridge at Ten Mile Bank, near Downham Market in Norfolk.
This new “road over river” bridge replaced the older, adjacent structure which was subsequently demolished. The new bridge comprises of a 54m long deck supported on two end abutments and three intermediate river piers.
The bridge deck was constructed as a concrete and steelwork composite structure carrying a 6m wide carriageway and a 1.8m wide footway with mains services. Once the steel structure was in place, the concrete had to be placed evenly across the bridge, starting at the mid-point and working outwards.
To carry out this procedure, John Martin hired a 52-metre concrete boom pump from Camfaud and utilised the crane that they had already on site. C & G Concrete supplied concrete to each side of the river so that the pump and crane and skip were supplied at all times. The Putzmeister M52 pump was the ideal pump for this contract. It has a large output core pump (up to 160 cubic metres per hour) although on this job it was not required to pump at maximum output as it was not permitted to get ahead of the crane and skip operation on the opposite bank. However, the large capacity pump meant that the boom movement was minimised at the stroke change making life easier for the man controlling the end placing hose. The boom reached 48.1 metres, meaning that it could be set up away from the bridge and still comfortably reach to the middle of the deck.
This pump is equipped with the One Side Support system that permits it to be set up with a reduced outrigger spread. However, this option was not utilised on this particular contract as the set up area was not restricted and the boom was used over the cab.
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Pump: M52
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Customer: John Martin Construction Ltd
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Site: Ten Mile Bank bridge, Norfolk
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Concrete Supplier: C & G Concrete Ltd
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Date: March 2004