Promenade highways improvements, Bowness on Windermere

The project was completed 2 weeks early in the busiest town in the Lake District over the Easter holiday break.

The project scope

The scheme involved the refurbishment, reconfiguration, and enhanced access to the promenade area in the busy tourist town of Bowness on Windermere. The scope of work included:

• Design using our partner Capita
• Surveys and setting out of the site
• Removal of old paving and bedding sand
• Installation of slab concrete
• Installation of new Westmorland green slate flag paving
• Installation of specialist Westmorland and Cumberland slate setts
• Installation of tactile crossings
• Construction of new public seating
• Installation of bollards and rock features
• Construction of wing walls and installation of access gates
• Installation of topsoil, grass seed and chipped bark landscaping

Key quantities:

• Public seating units: 8
• Rock features: 36
• Bollards: 55

Challenges & successes

The project was carried out in the busiest tourist area of the Lake District National Park during the spring public holiday period. This required us to segregate the construction areas from the public using Heras fencing and avoid working at peak times – including weekends and public holidays.

The project was located adjacent to Windermere Lake Cruises (WLC) – the main tourist attraction in the town. We worked closely with WLC to ensure we did not disrupt their business by liaising daily, working around their peak times, and avoiding holiday periods. We also made 50% of our working areas available to WLC for the 3-week Easter holiday period so that they could maximise their business revenue. Our Site agent was commended by WLC for the way we managed the project. Despite the Easter holiday period constraints, we completed the project 2 weeks early.

One of the constraints of the project was that we could not disrupt 2-way traffic flow past the construction site. Instead using traffic light controls, we installed Rhino barriers to maintain our sideways safety zone whilst still allowing 2-way traffic to pass.

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