Blakedale | Bringing highway safety and quality to onshore wind farms

Highways Industry Posted On March 16, 2018

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Blakedale has branched out by supplying more than 6,000 Flexible Cable Route Marker Posts to five ScottishPower Renewables operated windfarms across Scotland and the North of England.

The Flexible Cable Route Marker Post has been adapted from Blakedale’s innovative Fleximarker post, which is extensively used to highlight hazards along the UK’s roads.

“As well as being highly visible in extreme weather conditions, our post will also flex by up to 90 degrees and is self-righting after impact,” says Carmen Bowley, Joint Managing Director of Blakedale.

On windfarms, this unique flexibility and spring-back mechanism means that Blakedale’s cable route marker posts are less likely to be blown over in severe winds or displaced by sheep, cattle or deer using them as scratching posts. So operators like ScottishPower Renewables no longer have to go to the expense of correcting or replacing the posts on a regular basis.

“Cable route markers are an important aspect of windfarm safety as they are used to signal the location of buried high voltage electrical and fibre optic cables,” explains Gordon Anderson, Senior Project Manager – Construction at Scottish Power.

A variation of Blakedale’s Flexible Cable Route Marker Posts is also frequently used as Snow Poles on a number of other windfarms. In this role they help to guide maintenance vehicles and their drivers safely along access tracks in adverse weather or ‘white-out’ conditions.

Both versions are quick and easy to install into soil using an integral spike and barb. In ground where there is low cohesive strength, installation can be reinforced with a concrete pad foundation around each post. For the highways sector, Blakedale also offers Fleximarker HL for hard landscapes.

Blakedale has been supplying products and services to the highways and utilities industries for over 30 years and is widely recognised for its commitment to safety and innovation. In addition to its established Road Marker Posts division, the company also operates a successful self-drive hire fleet business, specialising in the hire and sale of Impact Protection, Traffic Management and Welfare Vehicles.