Stainless UK are supplying over 7500 stainless steel bars for use in the major refurbishment work being carried out on the Woodhouse Tunnel in Leeds city centre.

The Woodhouse Tunnel was originally built in the 1960's and forms a key part of the A58 (M) inner city ring road which now carries 75,000 vehicles per day. Over time, the tunnel concrete has suffered severe damage due to chloride attack from winter road salts and is now in the middle of a 2 year project designed to repair and strengthen the structure.

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Stainless UK have supplied VolkerLaser, who are working for lead contractor Carillion on the £16m Leeds City Council project, with a combination of plain round dowel bars and Grip-Bar, the company’s unique fully threaded bar product . Grip-Bar in marine grade 316 stainless steel is being used to form shutter ties on the project. The 25mm diameter plain round bar in duplex grade 1.4462 stainless steel has been supplied to form dowel bar joints in the concrete. Both grades of stainless steel used have a high resistance to chloride contamination which will help ensure the long term durability of the refurbished tunnel.

"With the greater pressure on our road network, the benefit of using stainless steel in road structures is becoming more and more apparent’,"commented Tim Wells, managing director of Stainless UK.

Recent road bridge repair works also supplied by Stainless UK include the M56 in Manchester and M4 in London.