Bewdley Town Centre, Worcestershire

Situated in the Worcestershire town of Bewdley, just outside of Kidderminster, the new Load Street car park in which Alpha Rail has installed flat top metal railings is the final phase of a major regeneration scheme that has seen Wyre Forest District Council invest in the town centre to create a brand new state of the art medical centre, library and pharmacy.

In a bid to attract more visitors and shoppers into the town centre, the council approved the creation a new car park on Load Street. The car park has been built on the site of the former medical centre which was demolished.

Montel Civil Engineering was appointed as the main contractor in October 2017 by Wyre Forest District Council to build the new lower level public car park and the creation of 55 additional car park spaces.

Alpha Rail was appointed by the main contractor to manufacture, supply and install over 100m of various flat top metal railings and cantilevered handrail.

In total, 75 linear metres of 1000mm high flat top metal railings were diamond drilled into the top of the perimeter brick walls surrounding the car park, as well as on top of the knee height wall running along a DDA compliant ramp leading from the car park to exit for the High Street.

Due to the fact the new car park was built below ground level, Alpha Rail was also manufactured 39m of handrail which was installed either side of stairwells leading into the car park.

One side of the stairwell was a solid wall, therefore handrails were securely mounted to the brickwork using brackets. However, the other side of the stairwell was open into the car park. The required handrail was rooted in to the steps with additional cantilevered back support stay bars to provide extra strength and stability and to prevent users falling from height.