Fast and efficient mat installation keeps pylon replacement on track in Cornwall
October 2017
Spencer ECA is one of the most experienced providers and installers of strong, durable and fast-laying temporary roadways, and has vast experience in supplying a wide variety of mats for both heavy plant and equipment movements on large construction sites to pathways for visitors to festivals and shows – including Glastonbury and Wales Rally GB.
Mats are essential for both protecting the land underneath and providing excellent traction for whatever’s travelling on top, and so Spencer ECA recently supplied 500 mats for a delicate electricity pylon replacement project near Hallworthy in Cornwall.
With large cranes required to access a total of eight pylons on farmland, a network of three metre wide temporary roads was constructed, using the versatile, super-strong and interlocking plastic mats. The roads varied from 60 to 240 mats in length, and a detailed site plan enabled the mats to be used efficiently and to be leapfrogged as each pylon was successfully replaced – reducing the number of mats that were required and minimising the amount of time each mat was on the ground; resulting in a clean and undamaged land management strategy.
Spencer ECA’s unique system of laying and removing mats is not just efficient in terms of manpower and resources, it is also three times quicker than traditional methods.
“The installation and re-positioning of temporary mats at the project in Cornwall was a textbook example of how mats can be used efficiently and effectively,” says Spencer ECA’s MD Jamie Jukes. “We dovetailed our land management work to allow the contractor to replace all eight pylons on schedule, ensuring that they too were able to proceed efficiently. And upon completion, the farmer was delighted to see that there were no signs that any work had been carried out on his land – with the exception of eight brand new electricity pylons!”
Spencer ECA has a wide range of mats in stock at its west Wales headquarters and ready for installation. It has also got 2,000 mats in stock and ready for use in Ireland.
