Land Northwest of Cowbridge, Section 278

THE CHALLENGE

SYSTRA were appointed by CEG in April 2016, following planning consent, to undertake detailed design of Section 278 and Section 38 works in connection with a 475 unit residential development located on agricultural land to the northwest of Cowbridge.

In December 2016, the site was purchased by Taylor Wimpey South Wales who have subsequently commissioned SYSTRA to continue with the detailed design work.

PROJECT FEATURES:

• A new 1 kilometre long Link Road, is proposed linking the B4270 Llantwit Major Road and the A48. Works will require realignment of Llantwit Major Road to form new priority junction with proposed link road and a new roundabout junction with the A48.
• Llantwit Major Road – a new junction with Llantwit Major Road at the south of the site. Also includes a new pedestrian crossing and bus stops.
• Nash Junction – signage and, potentially, minor junction modification works to direct through traffic away from the B4268 through Llysworney on to the Link Road.
• Penyrheol Terrace – traffic calming scheme outside a row of houses on Llantwit Major Road located between the site and the Nash Junction.

SYSTRA has been charged with obtaining technical approval for the Section 38 and Section 278 submissions for the above scheme elements.

Taylor Wimpey has now rebranded the site as Clare Garden Village.

SYSTRA’S ROLE

Having been instrumental in securing planning permission for this site, SYSTRA have undertaken to discharge a number of planning conditions relating to the offsite works. A number of these conditions apply to the proposed Link Road and alterations to Llantwit Major Road and the A48 and will be discharged via detailed design submissions for Section 38 and Section 278 applications.

Separate Section 278 applications are required for the Nash Junction and Penyrheol Terrace.

In order to meet Taylor Wimpey’s ambitious timescales, SYSTRA has liaised closely with the Highway Authority, Vale of Glamorgan Council, holding monthly progress meetings to ensure timescales are met.

Preparation of the detailed design has involved a number of disciplines: civil engineering including highways, structural and drainage, signals design and development planning. These disciplines have largely been resourced internally within SYSTRA but in the case of signals design we have enlisted the services of a trusted third party consultant.

In addition to a wealth of engineering experience, SYSTRA utilised a number of specialist software packages to prepare the detailed design submissions; including:

• PDS: a 3D highway design package which has enabled the design of the proposed road surface and outputs all relevant setting out information;
• AutoTrack: vehicle swept path analysis tool;
• Microdrainage: a powerful drainage design tool which has been used to design the proposed highway drainage.