Largest
highway scheme to be commissioned by the Welsh Government since devolution in 1998
M4 Corridor around Newport
RPS was appointed as lead environmental consultant to support the Costain Vinci Joint Venture who were contracted to progress the M4 Corridor around Newport. The project is the largest highway scheme to be commissioned by the Welsh Government since devolution in 1998 and involves the proposed construction of a new 23 km section of three-lane motorway to the South of Newport, between Magor and Castleton.
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Key details
Project name
M4 Corridor around Newport
Client
Costain Vinci Joint Venture
Location
Newport, South Wales, UK
Services provided
- Environmental coordination
- EIA management
- Environmental surveys
- Ground investigation
- Expert witness at public inquiry
- Environmental permitting
- Archaeology
- Ecology
- Noise
- Contaminated land
- Cultural heritage
- Waste management
- GIS
- Agriculture, land use and community assets
- Health Impact Assessment
Challenge
The first stage of the project had to be delivered within extremely demanding project programme of 12 months. The timescale was particularly challenging due to the sheer scale of the estimated £1bn project construction cost which required preliminary design proposals to be prepared, environmental surveys undertaken across over 12,000 hectares and an environmental impact assessment, ultimately leading to the issue of draft land orders and an Environmental Statement, all within less than 12 months.
Over 50% of the proposed motorway route crosses brownfield land, some of which has potential and known land contamination legacies, including several landfills, steelworks land and chemical works.
In addition, the proposed scheme crosses four sensitive Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI’s) comprising the Gwent Levels. The primary feature of which is the intricate network of surface water ‘reens’ and field ditches with their associated freshwater ecology. A variety of protected species and habitats were identified including otters, badgers, reptiles, birds, great crested newts, bats and dormouse.
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Project Statistics
1.4 £bn
estimated project construction cost
23 km
new section of three-lane motorway
40 Over
potentially contaminated sites reviewed
590,0003 Over m
contaminated materials to be remediated for reuse in the scheme
10,000 Over
hours of environmental surveys undertaken by RPS
5 Over £m
of ground investigations carried out by RPS