Standing on the River Thames, the fast pace of the UK’s capital is well documented, along with its desire for innovation and its thirst for knowledge and speed.

It is only right then that Natta Building, the highly successful, progressive independent contracting group were appointed as subcontractor for the New Covent Garden Plaza project in Covent Garden, for the Vinci/St Modwen joint venture.

The £5.5m project was split into four works packages. All of which have been undertaken whilst the world-famous market was open, which required considerable interface with all stakeholders involved, including stallholders and tourists, all of whom took a keen interest in what was happening.

With such a prestigious project being undertaken, Natta looked at how they could use the latest innovations and modern methods of construction on the project and turned to Marshalls Civils and Drainage and their Perfect Manhole system in the design of the pipeline.

With a 120 year design life, the bespoke precast concrete Perfect Manhole will still be working, hidden under the busy market area where thousands of locals and tourists walk every day long after the project is complete.

James Hibberd of Natta Building commented, “We chose to use the Marshalls Civils and Drainage Perfect Manhole system as the use of the integral cast-in, high performance seals maintain water tightness and decrease the time taken to install the manholes. So, they are completed faster and because the bespoke inlet and outlet benching is made off-site at the Marshalls Civils and Drainage factory, the manhole construction is closed quicker on-site. They’re great! As there is limited time in the manhole construction compared to the traditional manhole, it benefits our site personnel which in turn optimises the health and safety of our team onsite.”

The landmark 10 year project is the largest of the Nine Elms regeneration area, and will see the delivery of 500,000 square foot of new state-of-the-art market facilities across a 37 acre site which will house the 200 market businesses currently employing around 2,500 people.