Tesco - Oxford
The Problem:
As part of their nationwide refit and upgrade of stores, TESCO were renovating the Cowley Road, Oxford TESCO Express store which is in a dense urban high street with limited access for construction vehicles and high footfall of passing pedestrians.
The Challenge:
The main bulky deliveries to the site would consist of commercial fridges and freezers which arrive in large, assembled units on 40ft lorries. They then must be partially unwrapped and moved into the store using a high load capacity forklift due to their significant weight.
There was no area around the store in which a secure compound could be created to remove all hazards of public encroachment into the operation.
The delivery schedule was very tight as the loads could not be transported through the city centre of Oxford during peak periods and ideally had to arrive in quick succession before morning rush hour. This created an additional challenge of no stacking space to store vehicles whilst another was unloaded.
Our Solution:
We deployed a team of Traffic Management Operatives led by Larry who was an experienced Lead Traffic Management Operative with significant experience in complex projects such as this. We worked with the contractors and TESCO to design a section of a neighbouring retail complex car park which could be sterilised with no parking cones, chapter 8 pedestrian barriers and signage to allow us to receive one HGV at a time.
Using a combination of temporary footway closures and Stop/Go systems we then were able to create a sterile corridor into the site for a period of 5 minutes to enable the units to be moved inside the store.
These were all timed meticulously as the side road the car park is located on is a dead end with a primary school outside. This required us to schedule all activities to avoid their times of parents dropping off and collecting children.
Through scheduling vehicles to stand off site until we could accept them and the sterile corridor, all units were safely delivered into the store ahead of schedule and with no disruption to the local community, businesses and school.
Services Deployed:
ü Traffic Management Operatives
ü Pedestrian Closures & Diversions
ü Stop & Go Systems
ü Advanced Directional Signage
ü Local Authority Permit Application