An innovative new winter salt barn designed and built by Ryebridge Construction in Oxfordshire has been officially opened.
The barn, at the Deddington highways depot, near Banbury, was built by Ryebridge on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council, and keeps road salt in the optimum conditions for spreading, avoiding wastage and ensuring that the salt is more effective, so smaller quantities can be used.
It can hold 2,800 tonnes of road salt, enough to grit over 23,333km of roads, and the roof is fitted with solar panels, generating approximately 50kw power for the grid.
The barn also removes wider concerns from the Environmental Agency about salt being unprotected from the elements - risking harmful run-off contamination.
Ryebridge managing director Sean Scully said: “It was a pleasure to take part in the high-profile opening of the salt barn, and see it filled with grit ready for the winter season.
“Oxfordshire County Council will recover the cost of the barn relatively quickly in terms of the wasted and unusable salt, and we hope this inspires other councils to invest in similar projects.”
The county’s winter preparations have also been boosted by the arrival of a new fleet of gritting vehicles, consisting of 16 26-tonne trucks, 11 18-tonne vehicles, two 7.5-tonne trucks and one 3.5-tonne ‘baby gritter’, to treat very narrow roads and park and rides. In total, 30 vehicles are stationed at three winter depots across the county – including Deddington - ready for when the temperatures drop.
Richard Lovewell, business director for Oxfordshire County Council’s highways maintenance contractor, Milestone Infrastructure, said: “With the new salt barn and gritter fleet, over 10,000 tonnes of salt in stock and 60 expert drivers on standby across the county, we’re all set for when the temperatures drop. Thanks to all the staff who have gone above and beyond to ensure we are ‘winter ready’ and especially to those who go out every year in challenging conditions to keep our network moving.”
Ryebridge started work at the depot site at the start of June, and were finished at the end of September, in time for Oxford Highways to spend the whole of last month filling it up ready for the cold weather.
The project involved removing the existing foundations, stabilising the ground, levelling it off and putting in bases and slab. Ryebridge had a contractor design and install a steel frame, and another company precast the retaining wall units. Then they added a pitch roof, timber cladding and purlins.
The company also installed an outside gantry and a steam-washer to keep the gritters clean, the salt being extremely corrosive, and removed old offices and levelled off a site for extra parking.
The story of the salt barn opening was picked up by various media, including BBC South Today television, BBC Radio Oxford and the Highways News website.
