Millbrook Road West resurfaced with low carbon Warm Mix asphalt

The Project

Millbrook Road West in Southampton was successfully resurfaced in record time using Aggregate Industries’ carbon-saving Warm Mix Asphalt. 

The Brief

Millbrook Road West in Southampton is a major thoroughfare for the £4bn of goods that pass through the port of Southampton every year. In 2018, as part of a framework agreement with Balfour Beatty, Aggregate Industries successfully carried out restructuring and resurfacing of the Millbrook Road roundabout.

Three years on, Southampton City Council reappointed Balfour Beatty, as principal contractor, and Aggregate Industries’ Contracting Division to carry out required resurfacing and ironwork replacement of the adjoining Millbrook Road West.

The Solution

The existing road surface was in poor condition and showing signs of delamination so in November 2021, resurfacing of Millbrook Road West began. As a busy arterial route that sees up to 40,000 vehicles travelling on it each day, it was crucial to keep disruption to road and port users to a minimum. Furthermore, a sustainable solution was required to achieve a low carbon footprint.

To meet these objectives, night-time working between 9pm and 6am was adopted to ensure the tight programme schedules were achieved, with Aggregate Industries collaborating with Balfour Beatty and its supply chain partners at regular update meetings to ensure work stayed on track.

Aggregate Industries’ Contracting team planed out 110mm of existing asphalt to the concrete layer. Geogrid was laid onto the concrete for increased formation strength and to prevent reflective cracking. 

To provide a low carbon solution for the project, Aggregate Industries supplied and laid AC20 HDM warm-mix binder and warm-mix asphalt from Colemans and Heathrow plants. Not only did this provide a carbon reduction when compared with standard, hot-mix asphalt, it also minimised cooling times, ensuring binder and surface course could both be laid each shift, with the road reopening for traffic within the permitted hours. 

To minimise joints in the road surface, Aggregate Industries worked in one lane per night in continuous stretches of the new surface, removing paver stops and waiting time. This also contributed to Millbrook Road West being opened more quickly during construction, while ensuring smoother, more reliable journeys in the future.

The latest technology – from headsets for People Vehicle Plant Interface, to autobraking across all asphalt kit, including rollers, sweepers and sprayers – was adopted throughout the project delivery to ensure the programme adhered to the highest health and safety standards.