The brief

The existing timber footbridge, on the seafront by Sugar Loaf Beach, had reached the end of its serviceable life. North Somerset Council instructed EJM to deliver the works: demolition of the old structure, assembly and installation of the new bridge, and all the civils either side.

FRP is a sensible choice here. The units are light enough to offload and assemble with a small gang and compact plant on a tight seafront site. The material won’t rot or corrode in the salt air, and maintenance over its design life is minimal.

What we delivered

• Site set-up, de-vegetation and temporary pedestrian management to Chapter 8 standards
• Temporary support systems and access platforms for safe working at height on the seafront
• Demolition of the timber bridge and both approach ramps, with waste removed to an approved facility
• Offloading, assembly and installation of the new FRP footbridge
• New reinforced concrete pads and anti-slip precast concrete cappings at each bridge end
• New approach ramps to both sides, up to 5m long and 2.4m wide, with new railings to the approaches
• Full reinstatement of all excavated and affected areas

The challenges

The location brought its constraints. The beach and coastal path stayed in use throughout, so pedestrian routes were managed and signed to Chapter 8, plant was kept clear of live traffic, and the works were held tight to the site boundary with nothing allowed to reach the foreshore or the water.

The outcome

The new bridge is assembled, bolted down, capped, ramped and railed, and the crossing is back open for club members, walkers and beach users. A clean, well-run job for a client we work with regularly across North Somerset, and another FRP footbridge delivered for the council, following our earlier installations at St Andrew’s Drive in Clevedon and Pilhay in Yatton.

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Working to HSG47, vac-ex lets us expose live gas, electricity, water and comms with no mechanical contact, and without the slow, high-risk hand-digging around utilities that it replaces. What you get is a clean, accurate excavation for trial holes, service connections, ducting or survey work, with the gang clear of the dig 

Having the T-VAC 2 on our own fleet takes hire lead times and availability gaps out of the programme. When a dig around services is needed, it is there, on our transport, with our own operators, including teams cleared for secure and restricted sites. That is real programme certainty on live, congested and security-sensitive works, where a service strike or a stood-down gang costs far more than the dig itself.

It also cuts the manual handling  that comes with hand-digging trial holes, which supports our wider position on workforce health and safety performance.

It fits the way we deliver: our own people, our own plant, and the interfaces, safety and programme all kept under one roof. If you have a package with live services, restricted access or a tight programme, the T-VAC 2 is one more reason to put it in our hands.

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EJ McGrath Construction was appointed by North Somerset Council as main contractor for the Marine Lake improvement works following an open procurement exercise. As a family-run business proudly based in Weston-super-Mare, delivering a scheme of this profile on our own seafront, and seeing it recognised on regional television, is a genuine source of pride for the whole team.

The works form part of North Somerset Council’s wider placemaking vision for Weston, made possible by the council’s successful £20m bid to the UK Government. Our package covered a broad civils and refurbishment scope around the tidal lake, including:

• repairing and resurfacing the lower walkway around the lake
• improving access by repairing, resurfacing and rebuilding steps and ramps, and upgrading handrails
• new and improved signage, including a new welcome sign at the entrance
• repurposing under-used space to create a new business, equipment hire and storage facility
• upgrading and increasing the number of public toilets, including an accessible toilet, reconfigured as self-contained cubicles opening directly onto the promenade
• installing additional cycle racks
• repairing the Madeira Gardens pavilion roof.

Work began on site in October 2025, with the lake closed from 6 October to allow the improvements to be carried out safely. Delivering in a live, tidal marine environment brought its own demands, sequencing the works around tides and weather, and keeping a busy public seafront safe throughout, exactly the kind of complex, constraint-led setting our teams are built for.

The lake reopened to the public on Friday 22 May 2026, ready for the summer season.

As part of the social value commitment within our contract, we supported the Weston Marine Lake Mudlarks, the volunteer group who help manage the lake, in creating a new deep-water swimming channel across the width of the lake, an addition that will benefit swimmers for years to come.

“Huge thanks must go to the officers involved… and our contractor EJ McGrath for completing the work in time for the second May bank holiday and start of the school holidays, despite the challenges of working in a marine environment.”

Councillor Mike Solomon, North Somerset Council

“I’d like to thank EJ McGrath for doing such a great job, for being so approachable and for the bonus of our new swimming channel.”

Jan Doyle, Director, Weston Marine Lake Mudlarks

The Marine Lake scheme continues a long association with Weston’s seafront for EJ McGrath, having delivered the main promenade works back in 2012, work that still looks the part today. We’re proud to have played our part in restoring one of the town’s best-loved destinations.

“Marine Lake is right on our doorstep, so to deliver it as main contractor and then see the work featured on BBC Points West means a great deal to us. It’s the kind of complex, live-environment scheme we do best, and the reaction from the community has made it all the more worthwhile.”

Liam McGrath, EJ McGrath Construction

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Instead of a classroom and a slide deck, operatives were put inside realistic site scenarios. They had to work around moving plant and identify buried services before breaking ground, making decisions, and mistakes, in real time with no real-world consequences. Standing in a digger’s blind spot or putting a tool through a live cable in VR teaches a lesson that sticks far better than being told about it in a toolbox talk.

This is core to what we do. As a groundworks and civils contractor, our crews spend their days alongside excavators and dumpers, and digging close to live gas, electricity, water and comms. Two of the biggest risks on any groundworks site are the plant and people interface and striking a buried service, and both can be serious or fatal. Getting the basics right, exclusion zones and banksmen around plant, and scan, locate and dig safely around services in line with HSG47, is what keeps people safe and the job moving. It is also why we run our own vacuum excavation unit, the T-VAC 2, to expose live services without destructive digging.

We are grateful to Galliford Try for hosting the session and bringing this technology to our team. It is a good example of a Tier 1 contractor and its supply chain pulling in the same direction on safety culture.

Investing in our people and the way we train them is something we take seriously, and judging by the focus in the room, the headsets went down well.

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The project will see:

• Resurfacing of the footway around the lake

• Construction of a new slipway

• Renovations to the vacant spaces in the RNLI building, introducing equipment hire/storage facilities and modern public toilets

• Entrance signage to welcome visitors

• Repairs to the historic pavilion roof in Madeira Gardens

Having previously delivered the main promenade works on Weston seafront in 2010, we are delighted to once again play a part in enhancing our town’s much-loved waterfront.

We look forward to working alongside North Somerset Council and the community to restore Marine Lake as a place that can be enjoyed by residents and visitors for many years to come.

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The plant rooms beneath the entrance ramps had been suffering from extensive water ingress, and the leaks needed dealing with at source. That meant carefully lifting the natural stone flags off the ramps, getting down to the structure and putting it right before anything went back.

What we delivered

We carried out extensive concrete repairs across the ramp deck and installed a new waterproof deck, making the structure watertight and protecting the plant rooms below for the long term. With the ramps sound and sealed, we relaid the feature flagstones, a mix of original stone carefully reclaimed and newly fabricated pieces to match, finishing the surface with Tarmac ULTICOLOUR  to the scheme’s specification.

The result is a restored, watertight entrance that looks right for the building and keeps the spaces beneath it dry. It brings together below-the-surface concrete repair and waterproofing with careful, heritage-sensitive stone finishing on top.

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Both schemes replaced ageing, substandard timber footbridges that had reached the end of their serviceable life. As main contractor, EJ McGrath took the works from design through to handover, demolition, new foundations, and the supply and installation of two new fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) bridges, all delivered to a tight eight-week programme.

The brief

North Somerset Council needed two failing timber structures replaced with modern, low-maintenance crossings designed to current standards. The new bridges, 9.0m at St Andrew’s Drive and 14.0m at Pilhay, each a minimum 1.5m wide, were specified in FRP/GRP and designed to the relevant Eurocode loadings, with our structural design issued as an Approval in Principle (AIP) for the project manager’s sign-off ahead of manufacture.

Choosing FRP over traditional timber or steel made sense on both sites. The material is light, so it can be lifted and placed with smaller plant and lighter foundations; it doesn’t rot or corrode, which matters over a live watercourse; and it needs far less maintenance across its design life, a sensible long-term call for a local authority asset.

What we delivered

Our self-delivered package across both sites included:

• Structural design of the new FRP bridges, issued as an AIP for approval
• Controlled demolition of the existing timber footbridge and masonry abutments at Pilhay, with compliant disposal
• New reinforced concrete pad and bankseat foundations, plus ramped approaches on both banks
• Supply and installation of the new FRP footbridges
• Temporary works, support systems, access platforms and scaffolding to allow safe working over the river
• Traffic management to Chapter 8 standards, with approved TM plans
• New timber safety fencing to the approaches at Pilhay
• Full reinstatement of all excavated and affected areas, including the site access paths

The challenges

The Pilhay crossing was the more demanding of the two. Working directly over the Congresbury Yeo meant the river had to be protected throughout, temporary support and access designed around the watercourse, with pollution-control measures in place during demolition and concreting. Site access was tightly constrained and worked to an agreed access plan, so plant, materials and the new bridge unit all had to be sequenced carefully to keep the works moving without disturbing the surroundings.

At both sites, the priority was a safe, clean operation that gave the council a durable asset and restored public access quickly, with minimal disruption to residents and path users.

The outcome

Two new, structurally compliant FRP footbridges, delivered start to finish, demolition, foundations and installation, within the programme. Both crossings are now back open for the communities in Clevedon and Yatton, with a low-maintenance design built to give decades of reliable service.

It’s another scheme delivered directly for North Somerset Council, a client we’ve worked with repeatedly across the district, and a good example of the kind of complex, access-constrained civils work our own teams are set up to self-deliver.

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EJ McGrath Construction wins its second National Award in Pedestrian Environment category from Local Government

Back in 2011, EJ McGrath Construction won the Pedestrian Environment category for its Paving work on the £3.9m improvement of Pier Square. Now, the latest paving and groundworks project by EJ McGrath in Weston-super-Mare has also taken the crown.

The judges of the award were particularly impressed by how the scheme has improved outcomes for the surrounding areas such as supporting shops on South Parade, which were previously hidden by trees and a shoulder-high wall.

The paving and stonework used on the project is granite, which is not only high quality and durable, but also matches the paving used throughout the award-winning seafront. It was chosen to provide a subtle, yet attractive surface.

Cllr Mike Bell, deputy leader at North Somerset Council, said: ‘This award recognises the hard work put in by a dedicated team to transform the Italian Gardens. I’m delighted this accolade helps raise the profile of Weston town centre as a focal point for events and activities.
‘I look forward to the council completing further improvements to the area as part of our ambitious regeneration programme.’
Prof Steve West, chair of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, added: ‘It’s terrific to see the transformation of Weston-Super-Mare’s Italian Gardens receiving national recognition and winning this award.

‘We’re proud to have supported this fantastic enhancement to the town centre; creating an attractive and vibrant open space which should encourage even more people to live, work or pay a visit to Weston-super-Mare and support the local economy.’

https://www.localgov.co.uk/Pedestrian-Environment-Winner-Italian-Gardens-North-Somerset-Council/47650

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We were on site for this logistically challenging project for over 2 years in Bristol City Centre.

With an average of 200,000 people passing through our site each day, we subcontracted to North Midland Construction.

Our package included

Full Groundworks including ducting and drainage
installation of kerbing, paving, setts and cobbles totalling over 8000 m²
installation of large granite seating and planter units

See more in our Case Study here

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EJ McGrath have completed work in area around the Cenotaph, in the city centre in time for Remembrance Day.

Lord Mayor Lesley Alexander said it was a “welcome return” after last year’s event at Queen Square.

The parade, led by 7 Military Intelligence Battalion, marched from College Green to Colston Avenue.

See more in our Case Study here Metro Bus, Bristol City Centre

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