Hickton, one of the UK's leading Clerk of Works practices, has recently played an integral part in the construction of the new Sunderland Aquatic Centre. Employed by Sunderland City Council and working closely with Balfour Beatty on site, Hickton Clerk of Works services ensured this prestigious project was completed exactly as planned.

Working closely with Balfour Beatty ensured that the two companies delivered this project on time and to budget.

Kevin Alden, Senior Project Manager at Balfour Beatty, said: "Hickton was an invaluable help on site because they gave us independent feedback on all aspects of the build. Take the example of subcontractors, where Hickton was able to give us accurate and timely feedback on standards which gave us advanced notice of any build quality issues before they arose. This 'right first time' approach was appreciated by both ourselves and the subcontractors."

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Hickton and Balfour Beatty adopted a quality ethos from the start, which was crucial in creating the standards required for a 'fast' pool. This is a pool that has been constructed to exact dimensions and in the case of Sunderland Aquatic Centre, the length had to be 50m +13mm - 0mm allowing it to be used for world record attempts where millimeters, measured in hundredth of seconds, make a crucial difference.

One of the first tasks undertaken by Hickton was helping Balfour Beatty tackle the problem of five unchartered air shafts that were discovered during site preparation. Although this caused an initial delay, Hickton was involved in finding the most efficient

method of solving the problem - backfilling with pulverized fuel ash and cement - as well as checking the job was carried out as planned. Hickton also oversaw the creation of the foundations which in areas had to be excavated to a depth of 5m and backfilled with Granular Sub Base, because of the specific ground condition caused by the previous mine workings.

Along with the Olympic Swimming pool there is a Wellness centre within the development that includes gym, dance and ballet facilities. The facility also incorporated many environmentally friendly features including a rainwater harvesting system on the roof which uses every drop of rain which falls on it.

(CD/JM)