Welsh Assembly Government Offices, Aberystwyth

Client: Welsh Assembly
Contractor: Afan Landscapes Ltd
Sub-contractor: Carillion
Type of works: supply of 5,000m² of Hanson’s Aquaflow system in Natural and Charcoal.

Over 5,000m² of Aquaflow was installed at the car parking facility of the new Welsh Assembly Government offices, based in Ffordd Parc-y-Llyn, Aberystwyth.

As part of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Location Strategy; helping to bring the Assembly Government departments and services closer to the communities of Wales; the Aberystwyth office is the second of three new offices opened across the country.

An important part of this strategy is the assurance that these developments adhere to all of the latest environmental and sustainability guidelines; with the aim of achieving an ‘Excellent’ in BREEAM. Therefore, selecting suppliers who share these initiatives and aims, whilst delivering products that meet the Assembly Government’s stringent specification, is integral to the project’s success.

By working together Hanson Formpave, Afan Landscapes Ltd and Carillion were able to maintain the flow of building work and keep any major disruption to the site to a minimum. This was largely due to the ease, speed and efficiency of the installation; a great achievement given the high volume of site traffic.

The Location Strategy Programme Assembly Government required a paving supplier whom could match their expectations and criteria, as well as deliver a reliable, proven product. With the Aquaflow system installed, there is now a car park which not only complements the architectural lines and tones of the new office building, in Natural and Charcoal shades, but has also proven itself to be an effective surfacing solution.

Specified for its environmentally-friendly qualities, as well as its ability to deal with extreme volumes of water, the Aquaflow permeable paving was installed using an infiltration system; so that the water is filtered and cleaned, to a pH neutral standard, through microbial action and filtration in the geotextile layer, known as Inbitex^®. The water is then released back into the watercourses in a controlled manner; avoiding sewer and drainage overflow and helping to prevent flood conditions.

This was a prestigious, important development for the Welsh Assembly Government and more importantly the communities of mid and west Wales. With the ultimate confidence in both Hanson’s products and expertise, including those of its our divisional partner, Hanson Aggregates, suppliers of locally sourced aggregate for use in the sub-base, Hanson Formpave were able to help the Location Strategy team achieve the best surfacing solution for the Aberystwyth office car park.