Company News

The replacement bridge, being made from KLP Recycled Plastic, has excellent properties as well as being manufactured from 100% recycled polypropylene waste.  It is an excellent replacement for timber products as it is wholly maintenance free with an extremely long life.

By merit of a previous working relationship with the UK supplier of KLP, ECS were invited to lead the project and provide the Trust with a finished solution given the challenging installation criteria.

The scheme had particular difficulties:

 - the site was extremely inaccessible—no plant could be taken to the location and all tools and materials had to be hand delivered to site

- the site was of an environmentally sensitive nature, and so the impact of all operations had to be minimised.

- alternate access for the public was difficult so the time taken to dismantle the existing bridge and commission the replacement needed to be kept to a minimum.

ECS worked in partnership with Lankhorst, the UK distributor of KLP, to form an effective design for the bridge to meet the Trust’s specifications.

The materials were procured by ECS and the bridge was pre-assembled at ECS premises.  Several enhancements to the outline design were made at this stage.  The bridge was dismantled, packaged and delivered in manageable pieces to an agreed location close to the installation site.

In partnership with the Local National Trust Ranger Team and with some assistance from volunteers, the materials were safely moved to a location adjacent to the existing bridge.  The existing bridge was quickly dismantled, without the use of heavy plant or lifting equipment and the new bridge erected within a 4-day window, thus minimising the impact on the public using the site.

Reclaimed materials from the damaged bridge were used to repair an existing adjacent bridge with the surplus being used to form a suitable habitat for local wildlife.

The finished product fully met the Trust’s initial scope and the Supervising Engineer and Local Ranger have expressed their delight both at the finished product and the capability and conduct demonstrated by the installation team.

The dedicated team of employees at ECS are proving that with hard work, dedication, and an ability to embrace change, that we can continue to give our customers the best possible quality services and products, whilst looking for a positive future under the challenges being put before us.

Gary Jordan, Managing Director (left), being interviewed by Quentin Rayner from East Midlands Today, regarding the recent economic down-turn and how ECS is bucking the trend.

Gary Jordan (Managing Director) and Karl Booker (Operations Manager) have thoroughly enjoyed being involved as ‘Science and Engineering Ambassadors’ with a group of pupils from the Manor School in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire.

‘Go4Set’ is a learning scheme for 13/14 year olds to stimulate their interest in science, engineering and technology, run by the Engineering and Development Trust.

The pupils learned about energy saving technology and applied their research to saving energy in their school.  A visit was arranged for the pupils to see ‘inside ECS’ during the 10 week long project to see ‘engineering action’ at first hand.

Two models were constructed during the project to demonstrate their energy saving ideas (many thanks to all at ECS who helped) and presented at a celebration day, held at Nottingham University. The ‘action’ was also covered by BBC East Midlands Today, during the national ‘Science and Engineering Week’ and the pupils became TV stars into the bargain!