Site Access – 28/03/2022

(Marley Ladbrooke, 2022).

Site access to Home X is challenging as the site is located on Lewes Road, Brighton. Lewes Road is just off the A27 and being one of the only main roads in and out of Brighton it is very busy and tough to not cause congestion. There is only one entry point for vehicles at Home X and another which is only accessible on foot or bicycle.

By only having one access point for vehicles, which is on one of the most busiest roads in Brighton is very inconvenient. The site entrance is very narrow and heavy construction machinery that need to enter would have to reverse into the site, thus holding up Lewes Road causing traffic and more emissions that usual.

The red circle on the picture of the site plan indicates the location of Home X and how little space there is around the site. Given the little space there is care and planning must be taken to identify the opportune moments to carry on with the next stage of construction. For example, the concrete that makes up the skeleton on the building was in situ so the cement mixer truck coming to deliver would’ve had to reverse into the site at a quiet time otherwise it would cause disruption and complaints among the public. Planning and care would’ve had to be taken so construction progress wouldn’t be to heavily delayed and care for not disturbing the public. This is especially important because multiple deliveries of concrete would’ve had to be made as its in situ concrete. However, if Henry Construction Ltd. chose to use precast concrete they would have to lift it up to build the building – this is unrealistic as there is little sweep radius.

Due to the small space and nature of the environment around Home X, specific machinery had to be chosen, hence the decision to have luffing cranes, mini excavators, and dumpers.