FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Going the Extra Mile

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We worked round the clock for 72 hours to repair the damage caused to Oxford Street by the burst water main.

he New Year (2012) began, as it so often does, with an Emergency. On Thursday 19 th January, an old Victorian water main on Oxford Street burst, flooding fourteen shops along the street, and causing an estimated £1 million damage to stock and premises. On the Friday, Martin Low from Westminster Council contacted James Tallon the Contracts Manager at WestOne, our joint venture in the Borough. (James is Annette’s son, and my nephew; he joined us nine years earlier, in 2003.) Over the weekend, James and his team assessed the damage, and by 5.45 a.m. on Monday they were ready to start work. In order to cause minimum disruption in such a busy and prestigious location, the team worked round the clock for 72 hours until all the work was completed, and the street could be re-opened by 3.30 on Wednesday afternoon. They were required to renew the Oxford Street carriageways in both directions between the junctions with Marble Arch, Park Street and Portman Street, as well as substantial areas of the surrounding streets. In all, we renewed a total area of almost 3,200m 2 of carriageway, using recycled asphalt that we had planed from the site. This is exactly the kind of response that F.M. Conway — with its strategy of self-delivery — is uniquely equipped to provide. I am sure that there is no other contractor in our part of the country who could have matched this.

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