Case Study: Thorpe Road Cemetery Extension

Background

Horden is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated on the North Sea coast, to the east of Peterlee. Horden was a mining village until the closure of the Horden Colliery in 1987. Main features include the Welfare and Memorial Parks, Thorpe Road Cemetery and St Mary’s Church.

Thorpe Road Cemetery was built in 1952, partially in preparation for the building of the New Town of Peterlee in 1954. The cemetery is owned and maintained by Horden Parish Council who are the statutory burial authority for the village. The cemetery has been extended once in 1992 and plans have been made over several years to extend again once the cemetery was nearing capacity.

In 2016, the parish council purchased additional land adjacent to the existing cemetery in order to extend again which will provide another 70 years of burial space for the village.

Horden Parish Council worked closely with Durham County Council, accessing their Civil Engineering £50,000 to £250,000 framework to appoint a principal contractor through competitive tender.

Cemetery Development Services were appointed as the Lead Designer for the project.

Project Description

Elvet Chartered Surveyors were appointed by Horden Parish Council to undertake the NEC3 Project Managers, Site Supervisor and Principal Designer for the scheme.

Thorpe Road Cemetery Extension consisted of the following:

• Widen existing main entrance to the cemetery.
• Development of an access route from the existing cemetery into a new 5.1m roadway.
• Stripping, contouring, and grading of the site on a phased basis, with arising material stored in easement areas on the north side of the site.
• Construction of a series of transverse crushed stone pathways 1.8m wide forming a grid to the north of the central roadway.
• Forming a new pedestrian opening from the main road (A1086) to the east of the cemetery.
• Construction of a landscaped wetland utilising a natural ground feature with piped outfall route.
• Installation of a system of surface water catchment drains with outfall to the wetland or direct to the outfall route.
• Installation of mains distribution water pipes and water troughs.
• Construction of a Garden of Remembrance/ Children’s section with seating and curved Remembrance Wall design.
• Landscaping, forming, seeding and planting of the site after all roads, pathways and drainage works completed.
• Installation of gates and fencing from existing site into extension.
• Refurbishment and surfacing of existing internal pathways.
• Relocation of ground maintenance yard to a more secluded area of the site.

BCE Northern were appoint as Principal Contractor to deliver the works.

Conclusion

Elvet worked closely with Horden Parish Council and BCE Northern to ensure that the project objectives were realised including managing additional works identified during the construction programme to maximise value for money.