July 2010

We have taken delivery of nine new Caterpillar excavators from Finnings UK as replacement for older machines. These new machines bring our fleet size upto 35 including 24, 20, 14 tonne and 3 - 8 tonne mini excavators.

Dan Danaher said "The Plant hire side of our business has had a very difficult time over the past twelve month. We have had the purchase of this machinery on hold for the last six months, as we needed to wait and see how the market settles. It has not been until recently that we have seen some signs of stabilisation, which has given us the confidence to go ahead with the purchase of this additional machinery. We do have a policy to replace the machinery every three years, however we delayed the purchase of this new equiptment until the market looked like it was going to stabilise."

     

July 2009

                                                   Leicester Tigers                    

We have been awarded a contract to improve the pedestrian routes, traffic signals and signs and routes to the Leicester Tigers Welford Road Rugby Ground.

Scott Martin our Senior Site Agent says that, " The works are required to be fully completed for the opening day of their new stand which is on the day of their first home match for the season aggainst Newcastle Falcons."

                                        

Sue Southam was appointed as our QUENSH Co-ordinator on 5th May.   She will be responsible for monitoring  our management systems and procedures to ensure compliance with the three standards of QUality, ENvironmental and Safety & Health making modifications when necessary.   She comes with a wealth of experience, gained whilst working for a construction materials supply company and an industrial manufacturing company, in facilities management as well as environmental auditing, health & safety management, human resources and training.

April 2009

Institution of Civil Engineers EMMAs

We won silver at the 2009 Institution of Civil Engineers EMMAwards at their Annual Gala Dinner with our submission partners of Capital Shopping Centre and BSP Consulting for the Restoration of Parliament Street Bridge in Nottingham.  The Judges said in giving us a 'high commendation'. The excellence demonstrated here has been in the delivery of the solution in a high impact environment.

Ian Gilbert, the Contracts Manager said after being involved in such an extensive project, we are very pleased as we were up against some very strong competition from seven other submissions in and around the East Midlands.  Being recognised by our peers for our work is a great honour and everyone at Danaher & Walsh is delighted with the result.

Blackpath Footbridge, Rugby

            

The final link of the Blackpath Footbridge at Rugby Railway Station was lifted into place in the early hours of Sunday 1st March uing a 500 tonne mobile crane during a rail closure of the West Coast Mainline.                 Our Senior Site Agent, Steve Fisher, and the Bridge Designer, Peter O'Connor of Warwickshire County Council were both pleased with how smoothly the installation of the 40 tonne steel bridge was completed in 45 minutes from lifting to final positioning.

Feb 2009

Leicester City Council have awarded another project using our Framework Partnering Contract for civil engineering works and repairs to highway structures.    This latest scheme is for the strengthening and restoration of the Grade II structure "Old Bow Bridge" which carries City bound traffic on St Augustine Road where it crosses the River Soar. The bridge has been damaged and suffers from corrosion brought about by the action of water and in particular winter gritting with salt.    The works started in February will take until September to complete with traffic restrictions and lane closures as necessary.  To minimise inconvenience and disruption the in-bound City lanes will only be closed In the school summer holidays with both inbound and out-bound traffic using out-bound bridge in single lanes    The restoration will require the complete removal of all the tarmac road surfacing, shot blasting the steel structure back to clean bare metal, repairing and strengthening the steel and protecting with a high quality paint.   A new concrete deck will be constructed between the concrete laid thirty years ago under the road and the parapets with all the concrete then being completely waterproofed using a spray applied waterproof membrane.   Finaly footways and road will be re-laid using original slabs, setts and cobbles wherever possible and practicable with the final part of the restoration being the cleaning of the iron parapets and their re-painting in black with white infill panels to emphasise the original crest on the white background.

East Midlands Awards 2009 of The Institution of Civil Engineers

Entries have submitted to East Midlands Awards 2009 of The Institution of Civil Engineers in two of the categories.   Jointly with Leicester City Council we have entered the restoration of King William Bridge as a small project and have submitted with BSP Consulting of Nottingham the restoration of Parliament Street Bridge as a major project. The Award to the winners will be made by Jean Venables, President of The Institution of Civil Engineers at the Annual Dinner on April 24 which is being held in Leicester.

Dec 2008

Birmingham Airport security enhancements completed in time for the Christmas Getaways

We completed the safety and security enhancements at Birmingham International Airport in time for Christmas. The airport required security to be improved to main the terminal buildings following the terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport in 2007. One metre high decorative bollards which conceal high strength tubular steel posts, have been installed around the road edge of the main walkways outside of the terminal buildings creating a pedestrian only circulation concourse. In conjunction with the installation of these security measures the opportunity to improve the convenience for travellers was achieved by the re-siting of the coach points nearer to the terminal buildings, with new sheltered canopies at the waiting areas. The car park, nearest to the terminals, has an extra 200 available spaces with a dedicated coach park being provided alongside Herald Road for use whilst waiting for arrivals. Ambassador Road was re-aligned and extended under the Rail Air Link Bridge to join Comet Road and has made it much easier getting to and from the terminals for all travellers. Scott Martin, our Senior Site Agent on site said, "The main priority for this project was to increase passenger safety, but it was also important for us to improve their experience of the airport. We are extremly happy to have completed this project on time, within budget and with minimum disruption to Airport users." With work now completed the airport is fully functioning and ready to welcome passengers for the Christmas rush.

Nov 2008

CECA Annual Dinner

Mark Hedges, one of our Senior Site Agents scooped top prize in the Civil Engineering Contractors Association Site Manager of the Year Awards at CECA Annual Dinner at The Hilton Metropole, Birmingham on Friday 28th November. Having made it to the final shortlist of six for the second consecutive year, Mark overcame tough competition from representatives of National Contractors to collect the trophy, certificate and substantial cash prize. The scheme Mark submitted for the competition was for a 1.3m bridge strengthening and refurbishment project on Parliament Street in Nottingham. The bridge built by The Great Central Railway in the early nineteen hundreds had been seriously damaged over many years by affects of winter salting and increasingly heavy traffic loadings. The works were completed ahead of programme, within budget and with only minimal inconvenience to business, traffic, pedestrians and others using this exceptionally busy City Centre throughfare. The Client commented that "Mark has excellent communication skills, with his strengths being that he explains things very well in layman's terms, listens and takes on board their comments and actively pre-empts possible future complications". The project was registered under the Considerate Constructors scheme and in all audits undertaken achieved overall ratings in excess of normal expected compliance levels.                               "CECA Midlands Site Manager of the Year 2008"

Oct 2008

New Starters

Kirsty James is the new face at the Reception. She will answer your telephone calls and show vistors to the person they have come to meet.

Steve Crawford joined us at the beginning of October having worked in the Midlands for more than 20 years on construction projects. He started on "the tools" where he gained valuble practical experience and by grasping of opportunities as they arose progressed into team leading and supervision of the works. He will be working for us as a Works Supervisor on our highway and infrastructure projects.

Julie Alcock has taken up the challenge of hiring out our comprehensive excavator fleet to contractors throughout the Midlands, following her internal transfer  on the 1 December  from the Accounts department where she worked as one of Ria Green assistants.    The hire fleet includes 24 tonne to 1 tonne 360 tracked excavators as well as JCB 3CX Backactors, 7.5 tonne tipper trucks, vans, pick-ups and small equipment.

Sept 2008

To celebrate the completion of the restoration of King William Bridge Ian Gilbert, our Contracts Manager, presented the project design team from Leicester City Council with framed photographs of the finished works. Abul Tarafder, Princi pal Engineer Bridges, said, "It is on rare occasions we restore old historic structures like King William Bridge. Danaher & Walsh Civil Engineering carried out the work with exceptional care and attention to detail which would make the original builders proud. We certainly are."

Further Improvements at Birmingham International Airport

We are starting a 14 week 1.5 million scheme to improve the traffic circulation and provide safer pedestrian access to the Passenger Terminals from the current layout as shown on the photograph. This is a further phase of enhancement to the Airport where we have been working continually since 2004.

Aug 2008

Bedford, Church Square

Work started in July on the public realm improvements to The Church Square, Bedford. The scheme which has a construction value approaching half a million pounds is due for completion in September. The existing surfacing is being replaced with a very high specification paving, new street lighting and street furniture. Mature containerised trees and shrubs are going to be planted which it is envisaged will create an exceptionally pleasant square.

July 2008

New Look Irthlingborough

The project which started on 14 January was completed in June. The High Street and Town Square are far more pedestrian friendly and provide an environment which is expected to attract more people to the Town where shops can flourish. Simon Evans, Chief Executive of North Northants Development Company, says: "We are delighted that this important project has been delivered on time and believe it will set the standard for future improvements to Irthlingborough Town Centre".