PROJECT NUMBER: 1704-17 & 1611-09
PROJECT TITLE: DALRY DEER FENCE/ WESTER WOODSIDE DEER & RABBIT PROOF FENCE
DATE: 11th DEC 2016 & 10th JUN 2017
DURATION: 10 weeks total
RELATION TO THIS PROJECT: This project included deer and rabbit fencing in very difficult ground conditions across two sites, Material delivery issues on both sites with traffic management and small road clearing to allow access for delivery vehicles. Tree clearance was required to access the fence line and clearing the fence line. Working on a very tight timescale at DALRY and working against the weather.
The Client awarded SCOTFAST the contract to carry out fencing works at both DALRY and WESTER WOODSIDE. The works included supplying and installing around 9km of deer fence across very difficult ground conditions. DALRY had a section of rock around 600m long and a boggy area at the bottom of the fence around 1100m long requiring a wide-tracked post driver.
SCOTFAST liaised with local farm owners on this project and created material storage areas at the top of a hill on one location and within a farmer’s steading on another. We also took on the task of meeting with an SGN engineer and marking out the gas line at WESTER WOODSIDE and recording paperwork and passing this on to our client. The gas line was marked out with timber pegs, and our fence was then set out 10m away spraying our line pegs yellow.
Materials arrived on the site via our main supplier’s haulage, met by a SCOTFAST representative and escorted to the storage points following previously agreed roads and access gates.
The ground conditions varied a lot from one end of both sites to the other and our 6×6 quad bike and a hired wide tracked post driver became the vital equipment for efficiently dispensing materials across the hill.
All our fencing is erected to Forestry Commission standards or BS1722 to our client’s approval.
Walking the line and pegging out start/stop/change of direction with the client and choosing the best lines to cross the landscape is a must for this type of upland work.
Once strainers are driven or excavated and compacted, and line posts are driven to specification depth, we dispense our Rylock, wires and rabbit mesh either by hand or with our 6×6 quad and attachment that was fabricated in our workshop.
Both sites required tree clearance to access the fence lines, We currently employ eight members of staff that are trained NPTC Chainsaw users and if required have specialist arborists with the equipment we regularly use. All subcontractors must pass our internal Citation health and safety course before they can work on our sites and are managed by on-site managers/ supervisors giving daily updates and progress reports. We have access to a 3-tonne Alstor mini forwarder for removing timber from tight areas that can cross wetland areas easily when heavy machines would bog down.
The DALRY DEER FENCE project started just before Christmas and was right from the start going to be a tight timescale, the SCOTFAST team of highly enthusiastic and competent fencing operatives installed the entire project over the Christmas and new year holidays and completed the fencing ahead of schedule. Including steel access gates that had been fabricated in our workshop and galvanised at highland colour coaters.The Client is now presenting this project as a current show/ standard for new clients.
