ROTARY, WELBOURNE AND THUNDERBIRDS
Portsmouth North rotary club hosted an evening at the Langstone Quays Resort hotel in late March for a most interesting and informative talk about the M27 junction improvement scheme, for the to-be-created Welborne Garden Village, that came to prominence over Christmas 2025 with the closure of the M27 for a week or so
Most of the rotary clubs in the area were represented (Havant, Fareham, Gosport, Southsea Castle and Whiteley) for an excellent two-course meal in the Waterside restaurant followed by a very informative and interesting talk primarily about “boxslide”, putting the foundations for the junction in place
When I heard about this my mind went back to the first episode of Thunderbirds in 1965 “Trapped in the Sky” where a large airliner lands on the back of low loaders, too fanciful for real life…..yet this boxslide would have been just as fanciful, yet it happened and worked
Keith Purnell (Portsmouth North) introduced Adrian Mawdsley, Project Director of Volker Fitzpatrick Ltd (VFL), to open the talk with the background, North Fareham being identified in 2009, the planning enquiry taking until 2015, Hampshire County Council (HCC) coming aboard 2018, plan development in 2019…..and then Covid delaying matters by a few years
Further speakers were Jamie Roan, Chief Engineer, HCC, John May, site agent, VFL and Alex Skinner, Engagement Officer, VFL using a very helpful presentation including time-lapse videos of how they did it all, always fun to watch, at 1,000 mph
Various themes came through the talk, with the 80-strong audience attentively listening, from use of new technology to the fact that the boxslide was 8,500 tonnes (weight), 50 metres long, 25m wide and 10m high, used 5,000 square metres (sq. m) of structural concrete and 7,000 tonnes of reinforcement
The M27 was closed 24 December at 2050pm, 50 minutes late but was reopened 3 January 4m, 24 hours ahead of schedule, being very lucky with the weather, all contingency plans not necessary. The project employed 150 people (14 subcontractors), used 80 items of plant, removed 84 metres of barriers and laid 700 sqm of asphalt. HCC confirmed that the project was working within budget
In simple terms (for my benefit) the boxslide was moved using, in effect, a form of lubricant underneath, simple but clever, following a lot of 3D modelling
The project is still not complete, landscaping and house build to follow as well as schools engagement amongst other things
A thoroughly enjoyable talk; at the end, Portsmouth North President Adrian Brooks presented a cheque to VFL for £500 for Meon Valley Foodbank
For more details, please access rotaryportsmouthnorth.co.uk, www.welborne.co.uk and www.volkerfitzpatrick.co.uk/en
Ken Ebbens
Southsea Castle Rotary Club President