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Plymouth City Council Gets A Grip with coverTEC® Composite Covers and Frames

25 October 2013

Public service provider, Amey Infrastructure, who manage and maintain some of the UK’s vital assets, such as roads and railways, have installed a number of Ultracrete coverTEC® composite covers and frames in and around Plymouth City in an effort to improve road safety for pedestrians and motorists.

Plymouth City Council had been experiencing some issues with a number of manhole covers which had become worn and polished due to heavy trafficking and posed a serious risk to the public.

Ultracrete, manufacturer of highways maintenance solutions, recommended the installation of their coverTEC® class D400 vehicular access covers to resolve the issue.

The covers are made of an advanced composite structure of glass fibre and resin as opposed to conventional metal, and have an extremely hard wearing tread pattern, which is guaranteed for the life of the product (a minimum of 15 years). They are manufactured with an anti-slip surface that is equivalent in value to a high quality road surface and maintain their non slip properties even when wet. So in terms of safety, they provide significantly more grip than iron or steel, whose tread surfaces become polished, providing a poor level of grip which can lead to serious accidents for road users.

The frames offer full faced seating for the cover (compared to the 3 point seating traditionally found with iron covers, where if one point corrodes, rocking will occur), eliminating displacement.  This removes the potential for rattling covers, which cause disruption and noise pollution.

The covers are not electrically conductive, protecting pedestrians from the possibility of accidental electrical shock, and are very lightweight – a third of the weight of ductile, making it easier and safer for operatives to handle.

Their non-metal composition means that they have no scrap value, and therefore are of no interest to metal thieves who leave gaping holes in the road, costing councils on average £1500 per repair to replace the missing covers, not to mention the huge threat posed to the safety of road users.

The coverTEC® range of covers and frames are all third party approved to comply with European standards EN124: 1994, ensuring all of the requirements for installation in road and pedestrian areas are met.

More and more utilities, local authorities and councils are opting for coverTEC® as a safer, more secure and cost effective alternative to its metal counterpart.


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