Project Brief

One of the UK’s first ‘self-build supersites’ was built in French Fields, St Helens.

Starting as a partnership between Buildstore, Kingspan, Potton Homes and developer Mark Ward, the government-supported, self-build project is a two acre site that is being transformed into eighteen individual plots. The aim was to create unique custom-built detached houses, each designed and built to a customer-specific requirement.

With a standard self-build, the responsibility for securing land, obtaining permissions and establishing groundworks lies with the individual self-builder, but this custom-build proposition delivers fully serviced plots, ready to build on, with access and services in place.

Marshalls Civils and Drainage Solution

Developer, Mark Ward has utilised a wide range of Marshalls Civils and Drainage precast concrete drainage products including the Perfect Manhole system, 1800mm chamber rings and 750mm pipes.

The development included six Perfect Manholes, each with a precast monolithic multi-inlet base unit complete with pre-formed channels and benching, the manhole’s robust design and watertight thick-walled vertical chamber rings meant that it can be installed without a backfilled concrete surround, which allowed the open excavation to be backfilled sooner.

The project was the first of its ‘supersite’ kind in the UK and has been inspired to get Britain building custom designed homes to the same level as the rest of Europe. As of 2021, the UK self-build market represents 10% of the housing market, the same year saw Germany closer to 70%.

Client Comments

“One of the main advantages of the Perfect system, was the speed of delivery combined with the incredible speed of site installation”, explained Mark Ward, the Overall Project Director.

“The end result is a system of flawless manholes, which enables the site infrastructure to proceed at a rapid rate, maintaining high-quality workmanship through each and every stage.”