CPM Group Ltd

Following an extreme flooding event in 2012 to a residential area in Goole, Yorkshire, MMB (J N Bentley and Mott McDonald) have completed a £6 million scheme after subsequent studies showed properties in the area were at risk of further flooding.


The project for Yorkshire Water included the construction of two weir chambers, localised sewer upsizing, tunnelled and open cut overflow sewers and a 2500m³ storage shaft to provide flooding protection during storm events.

The precast concrete drainage products were supplied by Marshalls CPM who worked with MMB to ensure minimum disruption to local occupants as the work was carried out close to residential housing and a railway line. A taxi service was provided for residents who had usual access disrupted, and an assembly held at the local primary school focusing on the water cycle and health and safety around construction sites.

Mark Ewen, Design Director at MMB said, “The affected areas of Attlee Drive, Kennedy Drive and Churchill Walk are predominantly occupied by retired couples, with St Joseph’s RC Primary School, off Kennedy Drive. Due to the build-up nature of the area where the previous flooding had occurred, identifying a suitable area to site the required storage was problematic. The scheme is now complete and commissioned; during our 20-months on site, not one complaint was received by our client.”

Precast concrete drainage products make an ideal choice for flooding areas. Not only are concrete products inherently resistant to uplift or floatation due to their weight during flooding and cases of rising groundwater, they are also resistant to the damage from the impact of hard objects carried when flooding occurs. Innovations in product development has seen hydraulic features being incorporated into concrete drainage systems such as flow control devices and silt traps etc.

Upon completion, the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) in Yorkshire and Humber recognised MMB for engineering excellence at their annual ceremony that was held at Sheffield City Hall with Mark Ewen commenting, “We are delighted that such a unique civil engineering project has been recognised by the ICE.”

For further information on the water management solutions Marshalls CPM can offer please call our team on 01179 814500 or email salesemail@marshalls.co.uk

With the issue of seasonal flooding a real problem in the UK, Floodsafe Projects in Lancashire have worked on over 600 properties protecting them from the devastation flooding can bring. The latest one is a large detached property on the river, in Garstang, using precast concrete Redi-Rock flood blocks.

Local residents and Councillors had set up a Flood Action Group (FLAG) as flooding in the area was a concern and looked into possible funding in order to construct a flood defence bund that could be extended to defend the entire village.

Due to the involvement of the Environmental Agency (EA) and local authorities there were many extensive procedures and requirements that had to be met. Several options were explored and due to the nature of the surrounding area being agricultural land and the abundance of working space it was decided to follow up on the original bund option.

The final design cover over 600 meters of flood defences bu means of a combination of earthen raised bund through agricultural land, plus a 1.5 meter high modular block wall, complete with gates and a demountable barriers, where the line comes closer to a domestic property.

The site covers land of three landowners and is adjacent to the River Wyre and a major ‘A’ road. The flood defence not only protects the three landowners but also prevent the flow of floodwater passing onto the road, where it had previously flooded 58 properties.

As a result of the flood protection work, the Parish Council has been able to generate significant funding from the EA, the Local Council and other funding sources.

The 70 meters wide by 1.5 meter high wall has been built using the latest walling development from Marshalls CPM with Floodsafe being one of the initial consumers in the UK to install it. The flood blocks are based on the Redi-Rock concrete walling system with Floodsafe using a ledgestone finish that gives a random textured natural stone looking face. Laid on a reinforced concrete strip foundation, the hollow blocks allow for a steel reinforcements and concrete infill to be used, allowing for quick installation which is then filled with reinforced concrete, protecting the surrounding property from flood water whilst still enhancing the look of the local area.

On completion of the wall, Floodsafe Projects said “this is the first time we have used the Redi-Rock walling solution after seeing it at an exhibition and talking to John O’Gara, the Specifications Manager for the North. We have been impressed with the ease of installation and help we have received from the team at Marshalls CPM, from design through to delivery they have been with us every step of the way answering any questions from the EA or we have for them. The installed wall went in quickly and looks great, the owners of the property are very happy”.

When Liverpool Football Club wanted a state of the art training facility that would stand the test of time, it included what was put underground as well as what’s on top.

When McLaughlin and Harvey began work on Liverpool’s new 34.6 hectare training complex, it included new first team pitches, a full size covered pitch, an area for parents of academy players and visitors and a 91,500 square feet training centre, they looked for sustainable solutions that were cost effective and would last a lifetime.

London based architects, KSS began designing the project, having previously worked on projects for Leicester Football Club, the main stand at Liverpool’s Anfield ground and the number one court at Wimbledon, they took on board Liverpool’s core values of being embedded into the building form and materials, providing a focused motivated “place of work” environment for elite athletes in both body and mind.

When sourcing the pipeline requirements, the Marshalls CPM precast concrete chamber manholes fitted the bill. With their 120 year design life, responsible local sourcing of raw material and the appropriate use of recycled materials ticking all the boxes set by McLaughlin and Harvey, KSS and Liverpool Football Club.

The first smart motorway was introduced in 2006 in the West Midlands and proved so successful that in 2007, Ruth Kelly, the then Secretary of State for Transport began a programme of further schemes beginning with two sections of the M6 at a public cost of £150 million.


In 2017 the upgrading of the 11 mile (18km) stretch of the M23 Junctions 8 to 10 near Gatwick Airport began and includes the extension to an all-lane running smart motorway, as it is the principal road link between London and the city’s second largest airport

The 164 million project carried out by Kier who, along with associated works, required a retaining wall solution for areas along the motorway. Hard shoulder conversions creating a fourth running lane were completed and installation of 12 Emergency Areas (EA’s) along with other associated works such as redefining junction layouts and creating new gantries for signage

The project includes retaining existing verges where possible and additional planting upon completion of the scheme to minimise views of the motorway. Much of the M23 between junctions 8 and 10 undulates between cuttings or embankment, so providing sufficient structural integrity to new running lanes requires significant earthworks as well as needing retaining walls.

Having worked with Kiers before and knowing that designs of retaining walls had to consider all the constraints associated with motorway construction, the Marshalls CPM Redi-Rock walling appeared to be best fit having already proved successful on several other smart motorway projects.

With junctions 8 to 10 being the busiest sections of the M23 with heavy volumes of traffic, associated slow-downs and phantom traffic jams that can occur even at off-peak times, Kier needed a resolution that is fast to install, and could be installed in any weather conditions. Redi-Rock walling offered additional health and safety advantages in places of high risk such as narrow lanes adjacent to busy motorways.

The easy to install Redi-Rock solution reduced section times as well as overall timescale period. Highways specific handrail blocks enhancing the safety of retaining wall were included to the top block during design and manufacture, stopping access from above. With a cobblestone finish preferred, each precast concrete block has the appearance of six smaller blocks on each face, giving a more natural stone looking finish whilst providing durability and strength.

Manufactured from over 25% recycled materials, the CE Marked, BBA approved Redi-Rock walling provides a sustainable solution that has approval from the Highway Authorities Product Approval Scheme (HAPAS) and a 120-year design life.

The Perfect Seal is on its way. The cost and time saving solution for the fitting of lateral (or branch) pipes into larger concrete pipes, manholes, junctions and catchpits, at the time of casting or retro-fitting into a cored hole.


The seal uses three component parts to adjust the internal size depending on the lateral pipe material being fitted. The user can simply remove components to increase the internal diameter of the seal. All components conform to the latest standards for below ground applications. The universal nature of the Perfect Seal means that any DN150 lateral pipe with outside diameters between 158mm and 179mm can be fitted.

The Perfect Seal removes the need to purchase and store multiple seals and adaptors for different pipe materials, simplifies project planning and supports specification changes.

Benefits include:

Single product, universal solution
Removes the need for adaptors
Can be installed in seconds
For more information, please call our sales team on 01179 814500 or email salesemail@marshalls.co.uk

The need for speed was required for the replacement of a retaining wall and platform following station damage at Moston Station, on the outskirts of Manchester.


In 2015, a 50m section of platform 2 was heavily damaged when loose equipment from a passing freight train smashed into it. The damaged area was closed off and Network Rail design engineer, Alex Evans, took advantage to bring the Victorian station’s platform up to modern standards, began plans for a rebuild.

With train operating company, Northern Rail (a key stakeholder) expecting to run longer trains through the station from April 2019, the rebuild team had to come up with a solution which could be undertaken at speed. This meant scrapping the initial design by external consultants in favour of a scheme that avoided much of the track possession they had proposed.

“The old design was all possession work. The plans were to excavate down right next to the track and cast a strip footing continuously all the way down,” says Mr Evans. Situated within a 9m deep soil cutting; the original platform of Moston Station was a concrete structure that retained a granular fill. It incorporated an old brick retaining wall at the rear, which used to retain the cutting slope behind it. Network Rail’s in-house civil engineering team were tasked with redesigning and building the area in a short, eight-month programme. Their design and construction method centered on removing the need to use the track for plant.

Mr Evans explained: “Normally, the traditional method of construction would mean transporting material via the railway, this means the railway needs to be closed so working hours are restricted to midweek nights and Saturday evenings, which for this area would mean around six hours per shift. The access pointed for the plant is more than 1.6km away and the speed limit is 8km/h, so once a machine had got onto the railway and made its way to the site, an hour would have been lost. This would have reduced the working time to around four hours per shift.

The new design meant that most of the work could be undertaken while the railway was open, with the new platform construction excavating the toe of the cutting to create room for a new platform and replacing the old brick retaining with a new precast concrete one. Mr Evans added, “There were some possessions for some elements of the work but these activities were achievable in the possession windows, whereas the alternative design was more complicated as it involved significant temporary
work, which posed a risk to track quality and were time-consuming.”

Network Rail overcame the problem of where to place the construction equipment serving the site by undertaking an analysis of the stability of the cutting’s slope, which showed that it would be stable during construction while the toe was removed and the Marshalls CPM Redi-Rock retaining wall installed.

Network Rail works delivery civils senior design engineer Pip Stokes explains: “The original design was based on the track and doing things from there, whereas our innovation was to do some slope stability calculations to prove that plant could work mid slope. The team looked at a flat section of the slope where machines could potentially sit, with calculations showing that it could hold the machinery.

Installation of interlocking precast concrete Redi-Rock blocks from Marshalls CPM retained the slope giving a mass gravity retaining wall.

Mr Evans added, “There are some possessions for some elements of the work but these activities were achievable in the possession windows, whereas the alternative design was more complicated as it involved significant temporary work, which posed a risk to track quality and were time-consuming.”

Mr Evans said; “The existing retaining wall at the rear of the platform retained the toe of the cutting. We proposed removing the retained material to the rear of the wall before deconstructing the wall; this was an example of making sure we removed the lateral pressure on the wall without undermining it. The construction sequence was considered
throughout.”

Network Rail’s in-house civil engineering team, avoided the need for a lengthy procurement process and undertook the construction work. Network Rail works delivery programme manager Ben Campbell said: “One big programme saving was in procurement time. Appointing an external designer and an external contractor as a rule of thumb would have maybe taken two months each. So even if the designer had come up with exactly the same solution to ours and the deliverer had worked in exactly the same way as out in-house delivery had worked, you could add an extra four months to the programme.”

“The other advantage was that when the design was 95% finished in terms of effort, we were able to issue drawings to our deliverers in a way that we would not be able to if we were an external designers or they were an external deliverer. We were able to show them und

As the EA begin looking into 1 in 30 year flooding events as opposed to 1 in every 100 years, flooding is now part of life for some people, especially those living in Cossington in Leicestershire, where some residents have recently had to face a four-week wait before they could return to their home following flooding.


With new housing developments built on floodplains and an increase in demand on the emergency services and the EA, in times when budgets are being cut, developers are looking to fast track heavy weight solutions to stop flooding ruining lives.

These include NMCN who are installing precast concrete water management systems on behalf of Severn Trent Water to stop the flooding in Cossington and control stormwater attenuation. Using 900mm precast concrete pipes for the storage of flood water and flatpack tank systems for water management control, manufactured off-site by Marshalls CPM and delivered ready to install on-site. The tank systems being installed do not require a concrete surround, saving on both time, money, the number of lorry vehicle movements and on-site waste.

The precast water management flatpack panel systems have been made to suit the requirements of the scheme and are typically used when conventional circular chambers are not appropriate. Flow control devices such as weirwalls, Hydrobrakes, orifice plates and penstocks can be fitted to ensure the stormwater control management is fit for purpose and protects both homes and commercial properties from future flooding events.

Removing much of the confined space working from on-site building sites, which can be frequently wet, windy, and dusty or just, too hot to work on means a cleaner and faster installation process once manufactured products are delivered, making building sites a much safer environments for all concerned and an improved finish to project.

With Marshalls CPM offering a complete design package, including calculations and drawings, NMCN had full confidence in the proposed plan that greatly reduces the long-term maintenance cost of the project with all manufacturing complying with the relevant British Standards and Eurocodes.

John Wright from NMCN believes that precast offsite solutions are an efficient solution as the savings on cost and time are only part of the benefits. “The products manufactured by Marshalls CPM have been of high quality and fast to install, which is great for our on-site people as wet-trades are closed quicker and vehicle movements are kept to a minimum”.

Billy Fairhurst, Specifications Manager for Marshalls CPM believes the flatpack system offers customer’s high quality bespoke water management systems for both sustainable drainage systems and flood plains. “All of our watertight systems are bespoke. Whilst we have standard formwork to create the panels, with the modular formwork we have the flexibility to make bespoke items for every customer, including innovative fabrication for pipe entries. We have a varied product offering and offer chamber panels that can be constructed with minimum in-situ works.”

For further information on the Water Management Solutions offered by Marshalls CPM, please visit https://www.cpm-group.com/products/water-management/

Timeworn agricultural land is fast being used as the new source of development land for housing projects, such as the new Lewis Civil Engineering scheme for Taylor Wimpey Homes, which sees the development of 475 homes on an old dairy farm on the A48, near Cowbridge, Wiltshire.


A new primary school and associated infrastructure are also part of the development, with a new roundabout being constructed on the A48 as part of the link road.

When the Darren Farm project was granted planning permission there were conditions relating to flooding and infrastructure issues, which has resulted in a three-line attenuation tank being installed, using 1500mm dry weather flow pipes from Marshalls CPM.

Lewis Civil Engineering were ideally matched to this type of scheme as they had initially specialised in deep sewer and water main pipelines when the company began in 1984.

Les Vile, Specifications Manager for Marshalls CPM believes that the precast concrete dry weather flow pipes are perfect in areas that are prone to flooding as they can reduce over-pumping costs by up to 15% and are used in large capacity surface water or foul tanks.

“Using the precast dry weather flow pipes concentrates the water flow into a channel at the bottom of the attenuation system, increasing the water flow velocity and preventing the settlement of solids or water in the tank. When flooding or high flow levels are in action, the open channel overflows, stimulating the full volume of pipe. This enables the water and sewage to move freely, during both high and low flow levels, eliminating blockages in the system.”

Jo Wallace-Blaker, Trading Manager said, “using a precast solution reduces on-site construction time as well as the need for confined space working and heavyweight concrete has the ability to withstand ground movements and water jetting. By installing concrete pipes, a contractor can make cost savings on both pipe bedding materials and a reduction in vehicle movements on-site. As well as the attenuation pipe system, we have also supplied Hydro-brake chambers as part of the sustainable drainage system (SuDS). Aligning modern drainage systems with the natural water processes of the land.”

For more information on precast sustainable drainage systems please visit https://www.cpm-group.com/products/water-management/