Silver Jubilee Bridge – Grit blasting containment – Lyndon Scaffolding

As part of a four year project carrying out maintenance and repairs to the Silver Jubilee Bridge Tufcoat, contracted on behalf of Lyndon Scaffolding for Balvac, looked to complete the shrink wrap encapsulation of the Runcorn end of the bridge to provide grit blasting containment.

The project required 5000m² of shrink wrap to contain debris created by the removal of the existing paintwork by grit blasting and application of a new paint system.

Protecting the environment was paramount so strict parameters were in place to deal with the hazards of the work and in particular to prevent pollution of Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey which both pass under the main span.

Tufcoat installation teams began the encapsulation process in December 2011 and the works were completed in 2012.

The structure was divided into nine sections with each pier, spandrel and trestle shrink wrapped using Tufcoat flame retardant shrink wrap. To meet the strict building and environmental requirements a final seal was installed to ensure the blasting works were fully contained.

The work undertaken has been exposed to some of the most extreme weather conditions particularly over the first seven weeks with considerable rainfall and gusts in excess of 100mph. The shrink wrap has remained tight and fixed with only minimal disruption caused as patch repairs were carried out after these gales.

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