A forecourt operator on the edge of Hemel Hempstead was retrofitting eight 150kW rapid EV chargers across two new bays on what had previously been a verge running along their car wash exit. We were appointed to handle the supply cable side — from the new feeder pillar back to the upgraded LV switchgear room, plus the DNO point-of-connection upgrade.
Headline constraint: the forecourt had to stay open every day of the build. That meant rolling lane closures, hand-dig only where the new ducts crossed the fuel run, and the ability to make the site safe inside an hour at any point.
What the job involved
- 180m of new 4-way duct bank from the chargers back to a new feeder pillar.
- 70m of 11kV cable upgrade between the DNO substation and the forecourt's intake.
- Six LV joints to extend the existing distribution into the new bays.
- Permanent block-paving reinstatement to forecourt standard, plus thermoplastic line marking.
- Phased site setup to keep three of five forecourt lanes live during working hours.
Key challenges
- Fuel line corridor mapped to PAS 128 — hand dig only inside the 2m buffer zone.
- Charger groundworks had to interlock with the canopy steelworks contractor's programme.
- Heat from the existing concrete forecourt slab meant duct backfill spec had to be revised mid-job for thermal performance.
Outcome
- Zero forecourt closure days across a 6-week programme.
- All eight chargers commissioned on schedule for the operator's launch weekend.
- Joint records and as-built drawings handed over inside one working week of completion.
I wasn't going to lose a week of fuel sales. They scheduled, traffic-managed and reinstated around live retail — and I never had to phone head office for a closure approval.
— Forecourt Site Manager, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
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