Inspecting and testing the build

Start of road and footpath build

Following application approval and payments, you shall arrange a meeting with us before the new roads and footpaths are built. If the road and footpath build starts without application approval and a meeting, it will be at your risk and we reserve the right to not enter into a legal agreement.

Approved materials

All materials for public roads and footpaths shall be obtained from a source and supplier approved by the County Council. See Approved suppliers list.

Inspections of roads and footpaths

We shall be given a minimum of 5 working days' notice and you shall provide facility for our authorised representative to carry out inspections and testing.

Public road and footpath improvements

Public road and footpath improvements shall be inspected and tested at relevant and specific stages of the build depending on the scope of the improvement. Certification will be served upon satisfactory completion of the improvement.

New roads and footpaths

New roads and footpaths shall be inspected and tested at ten key build stages 1 to 10 and we will certify key build stages 5, 9 and 10 subject to satisfactory completion and schedule. Any part of the build that is not inspected by us will not be certified unless it can be proven acceptable by means of additional testing and interpretive reports. Any part of the build that does not comply with our detail design shall be replaced at your expense.

We will adopt new roads and footpaths with a section 38 road adoption agreement and certification of key stage 10.

Testing of build materials

To ensure the roads and footpaths are built to our detail design, the materials used to build roads and footpaths shall be tested by a UKAS accredited laboratory that is specifically accredited for the tests required.

Details of the source and type of material being tested shall be required for all testing.

Capping and sub-base material testing

Plate Bearing and/or Light Drop Weight testing shall be conducted to assess the strength of the compacted capping and/or sub-base material prior to the laying of the binder course.

Plate Bearing testing shall use a mobile counterweight, known as a kentledge, with a minimum weight of 10 tonnes. The plate diameter should be between 100mm and 300mm depending upon the thickness of the material tested.

Light Drop Weight testing shall use a dynamic (light) plate loading technique such as Light Drop Weight Tester known as a Dynamic Plate Tester. Such devices should be calibrated against the plate bearing apparatus for the particular type of material tested. Evidence of this comparative testing could be requested.

Plate Bearing testing should be spaced between 50 metres and 100 metres apart and a minimum of 2 locations is required. The distance between Light Drop Weight tests should be no more than 20 metres.

A minimum value, known as the Modulus of Subgrade Reaction, shall be 30MPa on capping material and 35MPa on sub-base material.

The method of calculating the equivalent CBR value from the Modulus of Subgrade Reaction shall be detailed within the Test Procedure submitted for approval. The report should include first loading CBR% and EV1, second loading EV2 and the EV2/EV1 ratio (where EV = The Modulus of Deformation).

The testing shall be carried out:-

• To a procedure approved by us with details submitted prior to testing.
• In such a manner that the values obtained are representative of the full depth of capping and/or sub-base material.
• A minimum of 5 working days prior to the laying of the Binder Course.
• At a sufficient number of locations

The capping material shall achieve an equivalent CBR value of more than 15% and the sub-base material an equivalent CBR value of more than 30% at the surface of the finished layers as determined by the plate bearing test.

Surface water pipe testing

The integrity of surface water pipes shall be tested and all tests shall be witnessed by us. Surface water pipes means all or part of the sewer system agreed to be adopted by us.

Surface water pipes up to and including 750mm nominal diameter shall be tested by means of an air test and surface water pipes greater than 750mm nominal diameter by a visual examination. A visual examination may include a CCTV survey and/or walk-through inspection.

Surface water pipes to be air tested should be cleansed and have air pumped in by a suitable means until a pressure of 100mm head of water is indicated in a U-tube connected to the system. Surface water pipes will be accepted if the air pressure remains above 75mm head of water after a period of five minutes without further pumping, following a period for stabilisation.

CCTV surveys shall be required for all perforated pipe lines.

Notwithstanding the satisfactory completion testing, if there is any discernible flow of water entering the sewers of manholes which can be seen either by visual or CCTV inspection, appropriate measures shall be taken by the person building the road to stop such flow.

On completion of construction, and following cleansing of the surface water pipes, a CCTV survey shall be undertaken of all surface water pipes including gully pipes, and culverts. The CCTV survey should be reported in accordance with BS EN 13508-1:2012 and BS EN 13508-2:2003 + A1:2011 and submitted to us. The surface water pipes shall not be certified until any defects identified in the report are repaired by the person building the road.

Core sampling

Core sampling of the bituminous pavement shall be drilled in accordance with BS EN 12697-27:2017 with a diameter of 150mm to ensure the material contains an approved stone, laid to the correct thickness and compaction, and has a bond between bituminous layers.

The determination of thickness, compaction and bond shall be conducted in accordance with an approved in-house method.

Core densities should be determined on core specimens in a dried condition having been oven dried at 40oC to a constant mass and in accordance with BS EN 12697-6:2020.

Air voids shall be determined in accordance with BS EN 12697-8:2018.

The bond between bituminous layers shall be assessed from 150mm diameter cores cut into the material when cold and should be deemed to exist when detachment does not occur with the core suspended vertically for one minute. Compliance with this requirement shall be obtained at all times after laying and should be deemed to occur when no more than 1 in 10 cores taken from any area fail the test.

Bituminous layers will be certified when the material is sourced and supplied by an Approved Supplier and complies with the relevant Build tolerance.

Replacing failed material

When a new road or footpath does not comply with the Build tolerance, the non-compliant area shall be replaced.

For surface level or layer thickness this shall be achieved by at least partial removal and replacement of the existing binder course layer. This should be achieved by planing sufficient material to enable a replacement layer of binder course to be laid. For new roads the replacement binder course layer shall have a compacted thickness of a minimum 60mm. For footpaths the equivalent thickness is 50mm. There should be no regulating within the surface course layer.

Build tolerance

The road and footpath build shall comply with the following tolerances:

Air voids of compacted bituminous materials

Tolerances on surface levels for pavement courses

Tolerances for layer thicknesses for pavement courses

Maximum allowable surface irregularity tolerances using the TRL Rolling Straight Edge

Maximum allowable surface irregularity tolerances using the TRL Rolling Straight Edge

No irregularities shall exceed 10mm.

Horizontal alignment should be determined from the edge of the road pavement surface. The edge of the road as constructed and all other parallel alignments shall be correct within a tolerance of plus/minus 13mm.

For block paving the surface shall not deviate by more than 10mm under a 3 metre straight edge. The difference in level at the joints of adjacent paving units shall not exceed 2mm.

Texture depth for hot rolled asphalt shall be measured using the WDM Ltd Texture Meter 2 (TM2) to determine the average Sensor Measured Texture Depth (TM2 SMTD). Measurements shall be taken over one or more sections of road lane 50m in length, or the complete road lane if less than 50m. The minimum length shall be 10m. The average texture depth for any section of Rolled Asphalt Surface Course shall be in the range of 0.75mm to 1.30mm (TM2 SMTD) throughout the maintenance period.

Cold weather working

Material in a frozen condition shall not be used in building the new road or footpath and shall not be laid on any surface which is frozen or covered in ice or snow.

Bituminous material shall not be laid on a surface of 2ºC or below and hot rolled asphalt shall not be laid on a surface of 5ºC or below.

Concrete material shall not be used below 3ºC, and mixing shall not be carried out when the still air temperature in the shade is below 3ºC. Precautions shall be taken to ensure that the temperature of the concrete is maintained above 4ºC until it has hardened.

Key Build Stage 1 Drainage

Key Build Stage 2 Formation

Key Build Stage 3 Road sub-base

Key Build Stage 4 Kerbing

Key Build Stage 5 Road binder course

Key Build Stage 6 Footpaths

Key Build Stage 7 Block paving

Key Build Stage 8 Road surface course

Key Build Stage 9 Completed build

The following checks shall be arranged for satisfactory completion.

• Roads and footways swept and cleaned.
• Overall condition of all surfaces, ensuring there are no outstanding defects or temporary reinstatements.
• Any damage to kerbs, channels blocks or edgings.
• Vegetation works complete including:
  • Weed growth to be treated.
  • Vegetation established and maintained as necessary.
  • Grassed verges mown and edged.
  • Trees in agreed locations and of acceptable condition.
  • Root protection/barrier systems for tree planting.
  • Planted areas (including SuDS wildflowers) in agreed locations and of acceptable condition.
• Drainage checks complete including:
  • No sediment build up in SuDS features.
  • SuDS features are draining effectively.
  • No settlement in levels and/or block migration on permeable paving.
  • Any permanent water levels in SuDS features are in accordance with the approved design.
  • Site SuDS features complete- including those outside of the S38 boundary which serve a highway drainage function.
  • Erosion and scour check at surface water discharge point.
  • Gullies and drainage systems cleansed.
  • Final drainage CCTV survey by certified company for highway drainage (if not supplied prior to this key stage).
• Signs and markings in place.
• Street lighting test certificates supplied and approved.
• Easements are in the correct location, with no encroachments or permanent structures positioned within the area.
• Supporting information:
  • Written confirmation to state S104 and/or private foul and surface water drainage systems have been inspected by the responsible party and are without significant defect.
  • Request as built drawings to be submitted within the maintenance period.
  • Requested that Section 50 applications for privately maintained surface water systems should be submitted.

Key Build Stage 10 Road and footpath adoption

The following checks shall be arranged for adoption of the roads and footpaths.

• Ensure issues noted in the pre maintenance inspection have been addressed.
• Road and footway are correctly swept and cleaned.
• Overall condition of all surfaces, ensuring there are no outstanding defects or temporary reinstatements.
• Any damage to kerbs, channels blocks or edgings.
• Vegetation works complete including:
  • Weed growth to be treated.
  • Vegetation established and maintained as necessary.
  • Grassed verges mown and edged.
  • Trees of acceptable condition.
  • Planted areas of acceptable condition.
• Drainage checks complete including:
  • No sediment build up in SuDS features.
  • SuDS features are draining effectively.
  • No settlement in levels and/or block migration on permeable paving.
  • Erosion and scour check at surface water discharge point.
  • Gullies and drainage systems cleansed.
• All sales advertising signs are removed from site and existing highway street furniture.
• Supporting information:
  • Ensure as-built drawings, together with private management company details have been submitted and accepted.
  • Street Lighting inspection has been carried out by LCC street lighting engineer and defects cleared.
  • S104 Maintenance or Vesting Certificate.
  • Confirmed that Section 50 applications for privately maintained surface water systems have been completed and returned.