To provide a new hard landscape public display 'apron' for Bury Transport Museum - an affliated Organisation of the heritage railway trust 'The East Lancashire Railway'.
To have a quality hard landscape area capable of witholding the movement of heavy vehicles such as steam Traction Engines and vintage Double Decker Buses and Trams to be displayed for the public here, outside of the newly refurbished transport Museum which lies within the Grade II* listed structure adjacent.
The structure that the Museum is now housed within is the world's oldest railway goods buidling and had to retain the remaining standard guage railway line that still entered it from the 'main line' of the East Lancs Railway that passes by at the other end of the proposed display area.
The exisitng site was compacted cinder and earth which was much soft for the required load bearing and often turned to mud in periods of rainfall.
To attain the desired high quality finish, it was decided not to 'mix and match' quantities of stone setts but to try and source enouth material to make a uniform bold impression os consistency in unit size and colouration.
Therefore a complete sandstone square sett floor from a demolished mill in Manchester that had lain in a Yorkshire reclamation yard for several decades was sourced, colour matched to the Transport Museum building facade, purchased and transported to site.
There was enough material now to create the full expanse of the apron that the client reuired without compromising the strong uniform appearance that was required.
The final design had to account for the inclusion of the aforementioned railway line in to the museum as well as the accurate levels to ensure adequare surface water falls in to newly laid drains.
These civil engineering aspects of gradient were of paramount importance as the space would be utilised for public events several times a year and the surface had to maintain a well drained finish across a wide expanse of area that had by purpose to be extremely flat.
The success of providing this surface water disposal without the need for excessive gulleys and visible drains, and establishing a successful outfall to allow for the natural 'head fall' of water without requirement of pumping on a site that is situated will below surrounding street levels, is further testament to the technical knowledge,consideration and understanding for such 'hidden' components to create such a seemingly simple design appear so effortlessly successful.
