Sutton Bank annual maintenance
Align has appointed its first chartered geologist who brings almost 20 years of geotechnical and engineering geology experience to the highways department.
Mark Deighton is working alongside Align’s engineering and design teams to provide specialist ground analysis, having worked on a number of landslip, mining and geotechnical infrastructure schemes over the last two decades.
They include last year’s annual maintenance of Sutton Bank, in which he worked alongside NY Highways to carry out specialist ground and site investigations to help assess and manage risk.
The brief
Sutton Bank is a rock escarpment located in the North York Moor National Park.
As part of the annual maintenance of the route to manage the risk of rock slope failures to the A170 road, Align were asked to supervise the construction works on behalf of the client, NY Highways.
The solution:
Mark was present during the annual site maintenance which included vegetation management, the removal of high-risk rock debris, sprayed concrete and rock bolt maintenance.
During the works, a rock mass inspection was also conducted to identify any new slope defects and rockfall risk locations which will be remediated during construction works this year.
Mark’s role as technical supervisor allowed Align to quality-assure the construction works, keep accurate construction records and support the client’s project managers through advanced technical decision-making.
The result:
The construction works were completed in a constrained road closure and met the client’s difficult programme requirements.
Explaining his role, Mark said: “In simple terms, my role is about studying the ground to identify risk and assess its impact on sites.
“This is a new skillset to add to Align’s already-impressive multi-disciplinary offering, in terms of desk studies, ground modelling, geotechnical management and engineering geology.
“This is a crucial aspect of civils design, carrying out ground and site investigations to help assess and manage risks, and ensure the best possible long-term solutions.
“I’m really looking forward to leading and managing the landslip remediation projects for Align’s highways team, as well as offer support to other departments on all geotechnical and geological engineering aspects.”
