Auditing the Golden Arches (McDonald’s)

October 31, 2023

Auditing the Golden Arches (McDonald's)

For many years TMS have been involved in carrying out Road Safety Audits on almost 100 new McDonald’s sites throughout the UK, for one of our most long-standing clients. Typically, the schemes involve Drive Thru restaurants which are often located on the edge of busy town and city retail and leisure complexes. They are ideally situated to serve the visitors to the retail/leisure parks and nearby town and city centres, as well as being convenient to the surrounding residential catchment and busy road network.

McDonald's Drive Thru with the Golden Arches in front

Over the past two decades, we have seen a big increase in the number of new retail and leisure parks being built, together with huge expansions of existing complexes. As a result, pushing the demand for convenient restaurant and food outlets such as McDonald’s to support this growth, subsequently increasing the requirement for Road Safety Audits by Local Highway Authorities. As a company, we have also seen an increase in demand for Road Safety Audits on the likes of Costa Coffee and Starbucks Drive-Thru schemes.

Currently within the UK there are approximately 1,400 McDonalds restaurants. McDonalds has over 36,000 restaurants in the world, operating in over 100 countries and territories. There are approximately 120,000 people employed by McDonalds UK and over one million worldwide. McDonalds are looking to open 300 new restaurants over the next 10 years, reinforcing their drive and commitment for growth across the globe.

Some of the proposed McDonald’s restaurants are developed on vacant, derelict or disused retail/warehouse sites and can often involve the demolition of existing buildings to facilitate the installation of the Restaurant and Drive Thru lanes. In turn, improvements and changes often need to be made to the public highway to allow for such developments to be built, which prompts the requirement for a Road Safety Audit. For commercial schemes of this nature, our auditors would typically review the proposed highway design to allow for the:

Provision of a new access and/or service access or the forming of a new junction and closing of an existing junction

Widening of existing access/egress

Realignment of tactile paving crossing point / upgrade of existing tactile paving within the vicinity

Upgrade of traffic signal crossings

Upgrade of existing pedestrian crossings

Widening of service road to accommodate two-way traffic

Provision of a new pedestrian refuge island

Provision of new roundabout arms to lead to a new restaurant and/or other future developments

Kerbing – installation of full height kerbing including dropped kerbs

Reinstatement of footways

Proposals for a left-out only exit and a left-in only

Widening of the carriageway to accommodate a new ghosted right turn lane

TMS are often commissioned to carry out Road Safety Audits at varying stages of the design and construction process. For some McDonald’s sites, we have audited the scheme at every stage, from the pre-planning application (Stage 1) right through to the restaurant being built and open to the public (Stage 3). In some cases, we have been asked to carry out Stage 4 Post Opening Monitoring audits where there have been issues with high volume traffic and vehicle/pedestrian conflicts within the vicinity of the restaurant and surrounding area.

Our audit teams have carried out site visits at every corner of the United Kingdom from Bridgwater to Kent to Enniskillen, Fife, Swansea and everywhere in between.

From a road safety audit point of view, it is great to see our clients incorporating the findings from the design stage road safety audit reports, which in turn allows them to build a safe, cohesive environment for their customers and all visitors to the restaurants.

If you have a scheme that requires a Road Safety Audit for a new proposed McDonalds restaurant or any other food and retail outlet, then please call us on +44 (0)24 7669 0900 or alternatively please email Lorna Styring.

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Road Safety Audits

Upturn in Road Safety Audits for new Supermarket developments

October 17, 2023

Upturn in Road Safety Audits for new supermarket developments

For many years TMS have been regularly involved in auditing supermarket retail development schemes for the likes of Aldi and Lidl stores, at all stages of the Road Safety Audit process. These schemes are often commissioned via our clients, who have long-standing relationships with the supermarket chains.

Typically, this type of retail scheme requires improvements and changes to the public highway to allow for such developments to be built, which prompts the requirement for a Road Safety Audit. For projects of this nature, our auditors would typically review the proposed design to allow for:

accommodating new priority junctions / access points / ghost island right turn lanes
new roundabout access arms
a variety of new, proposed crossings including Toucan and Puffin
relocation of existing controlled pedestrian crossings
improvements to vehicle and pedestrian accesses
improvements to footways / cycleways including dedicated pedestrian walkways.
internal improvements to the car park layout

We have recently seen yet another increase in the number of road safety audits carried out on schemes for both Aldi and Lidl supermarkets. Aldi has become the fourth biggest supermarket in the UK, whilst also seeing huge growth for Lidl in recent years. Their growth and presence within the grocery industry has had a positive impact on both the number of supermarkets being built, subsequently increasing the need for a Road Safety Audit.

Road Safety Audit of Aldi Store Development

Our auditors have visited every corner of the country, auditing these schemes in their early design phase through to post construction, when the supermarkets are fully operational and open to the public. Our audit teams have carried out Stage 3 Post Construction Road Safety Audits at locations such as Downham Market, Essex, Great Yarmouth, Horncastle, Birmingham, Houghton Regis, Marlow, Rugeley, Lutterworth and Hinckley, to name but a few.

From a road safety audit point of view, it is great to see our clients incorporating the findings from our reports into their design, which in turn allows them to construct a safe, all-encompassing environment for their customers, visitors and deliveries.

If you have a scheme that requires a Road Safety Audit for an Aldi or Lidl store or any other retail development, then please call us on +44 (0)24 7669 0900 or alternatively please email Lorna Styring.

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Road Safety Audits

Road Safety Audits at former Drakelow Power Station

October 6, 2023

Road Safety Audits at former Drakelow Power Station

For over the past year, TMS have been involved in carrying out numerous Road Safety Audits, at different stages of the design process, on the Section 278 works which form part of the Drakelow Power Station project, known as Drakelow Park.

The former power station site consisted of a series of three, now decommissioned and demolished coal-fired power stations, located south of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The power stations were built on the site of Drakelow Hall, a stately home on the south bank of the river Trent.

The Drakelow Park development, one of the largest brownfield site development opportunities in the Midlands, marks the end of decades of planning to bring thousands of homes to the former power station site. The mixed-used development comprises of up to 2,200 new homes, including a retirement village, new primary school, local centres with commercial and community use, and associated infrastructure, including new parks. Three new roundabout junctions will also provide access to the site, connecting a network of adopted highways.

Future development plans also involve the building of the new Walton bypass and bridge. The bridge will replace the aging single lane temporary Bailey Bridge which can no longer cope with the amount of daily traffic using the 70-year-old structure.

Header image courtesy of Insider Media
Image to the right courtesy of Staffordshire Live

Road Safety Audit at Dracan Village Housing Development

Since July 2022, our auditors Richard Marriott and Lee Williams have carried out various design stage road safety audits to include the Section 278 works for the two main site access roundabouts (northern and southern roundabouts) plus various carriageway widening.

The section 278 works which were audited by our team, consisted of roundabouts being constructed along the existing alignment, with a slight deviation to accommodate the circulatory and provide deflection. The roundabouts will have a 3-metre-wide shared use footway-cycleway running along the northbound lane. The northern roundabout’s arm into the site will go directly into a residential development, and the arm coming off the southern roundabout will serve the commercial business park development at the southern extent of the site, with a priority junction link to the residential site along it.

This extensive project will continue for some years yet and we are certain our audit team will be back to site soon to carry out further Road Safety Audits to support the ongoing developments at Drakelow Park.

If you have a scheme that requires a Road Safety Audit on a residential or commercial development for its Section 278 or Section 38 works, then please call us on +44 (0)24 7669 0900 or alternatively please email Lorna Styring.

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Road Safety Audits

Road Safety Audit at Villa Park

August 11, 2023

Road Safety Audit at Villa Park

TMS have recently been involved in a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit on highway improvements to the surrounding areas of the Aston Villa Stadium, Villa Park in Birmingham. TMS were commissioned by our client to carry out a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit on Witton Lane and a simple priority junction to provide access to a car park within the grounds of the football stadium.

Originally built in 1897, Villa Park currently has a capacity of 42,657. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground has hosted sixteen England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899 and the most recent in 2005. Villa Park has hosted 55 FA Cup semi-finals, more than any other stadium, and it is the 10th largest in England.

There is a planned redevelopment of the stadium, which will increase the capacity to over 50,000 and include over 7,000 sqm of public realm surrounding the Witton Lane entrance. As part of the redevelopment sustainable technologies such as solar panels, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) and green roofs will be used.

Not only do we carry out Road Safety Audits at high profile football stadiums, but the concept of safety audit is also drilled down to grass roots football. TMS are regularly commissioned to carry out Road Safety Audits on new vehicle accesses to support the growth of football clubs in various towns and villages throughout the UK. More recently, we have completed a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit on behalf of Kibworth FC in Leicester on their proposed expansion, which consists of a new dedicated access for the growing club.

Over the years, TMS have also been involved in several bespoke road safety projects related to football stadiums, including The Hawthorns (West Bromwich Albion FC), Etihad Stadium (Manchester City), the old Ricoh Arena (Coventry City FC) and Brentford Community Stadium (Brentford FC).

We have also carried out a Road Safety Study at St George’s Park, the home of all 23 England Football Teams.

When carrying out Road Safety Audits and bespoke consultancy work related to stadia, one of the main considerations for our engineers is the movement and behaviour of large crowds, something which, at TMS, we have considerable knowledge and experience in.

If you have a scheme relating to a football stadium (or any other type of stadium) that requires a Road Safety Audit or a bespoke road safety project, then please call us on +44 (0)24 7669 0900 or please email Lorna Styring.

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Road Safety Audits