Balfour Beatty, Great West Road – BIOSHRINK FR300 Containment for Bridge-Pier Blasting

EcoShrink is supplying and installing BIOSHRINK FR300 as the containment skin for Balfour Beatty's restoration of the support piers beneath the elevated Great West Road in West London. The programme covers around 150 piers in total over the next 3 years and is the first major live deployment of our biodegradable flame-retardant grade on a containment job of this severity.

Project overview

Balfour Beatty are restoring the support piers beneath the elevated Great West Road, a mix of steel and concrete elements that have to be blasted back and re-protected. The works run pier by pier under rolling lane closures and strict Chapter 8 traffic-management restrictions, with the road live throughout. Across the full programme that's around 150 piers at roughly 250m² of wrap apiece, close to 37,500m² of containment in total.

Blasting throws abrasive media, paint flake and dust in every direction, none of which can be allowed anywhere near live traffic or the public. The enclosure exists for one reason: to contain the blasting completely so the highway keeps moving safely. EcoShrink builds a fully sealed cell around each working pier and heat-shrinks it tight in BIOSHRINK FR300. The brief to the film was blunt. It had to behave exactly like a conventional flame-retardant wrap, under blasting, under constant traffic buffeting, with no allowance for being the "eco" option. It's doing precisely that.

Challenges on programme

A live carriageway at 50mph on both sides, generating constant wind buffeting and zero tolerance for anything escaping toward traffic. Heavy abrasive blasting inside the enclosure, with high abrasion on the inner face and airborne grit and dust to contain fully. A hard fire-performance requirement, given how close the works sit to a live public highway. And all of it delivered pier by pier under Chapter 8 lane closures, where every enclosure has to go up, perform and come down inside a tightly controlled traffic-management window.

Then there's repeatability. This isn't one enclosure. It's the same standard applied roughly 150 times, every pier as clean and as sealed as the last, over an extended programme. On top of which, EcoShrink and Balfour Beatty wanted the containment skin itself to be biodegradable and fully recyclable rather than yet another mountain of single-use plastic.

Our solution

Specifying BIOSHRINK FR300

A 300-micron flame-retardant film, biodegradable and fully recyclable, independently certified by SGS to EN 13501-1 Class B-s1,d0. Its mechanical performance is identical to a conventional flame-retardant wrap. The biodegradable behaviour is built in without softening the film or compromising strength, tear resistance or shrink.

Encapsulation and detailing

Each pier is enclosed on a supporting frame and the panels heat-welded into a single, drum-tight membrane. Seams are heat-sealed, the base is sealed onto ground sheeting and weighted off, and access points are kept labelled so crews work in and out without breaking the seal.

Holding up under load

A drum-tight membrane spreads wind pressure across the welded film and frame instead of tugging at fixings, so it stays put beside fast traffic where loose sheeting tears. Damage is heat-patched in place, so every enclosure stays sealed for as long as its pier is live.

Results so far

The programme is ongoing, and BIOSHRINK FR300 is doing exactly what was asked of it. Blasting media and debris are kept fully contained, pier by pier, while the Great West Road runs uninterrupted alongside under Chapter 8 management. The certified fire classification is maintained right next to live traffic.

With around 20 piers wrapped so far, the biodegradable film is performing identically to a conventional wrap under genuinely heavy use, which is the entire point. That early proof is what the rest of the programme is built on, with roughly 150 piers and around 37,500m² of containment projected over the next three years, allowing for planned breaks along the way. The sustainability outcome stands alongside the performance one, not instead of it. Balfour Beatty get the same sealed, compliant, professional enclosure they would expect from any EcoShrink containment job, but the containment skin itself is biodegradable and fully recyclable rather than conventional single-use plastic, with no compromise on protection to get there.

Frequently asked questions

Is biodegradable shrink wrap strong enough for heavy-duty containment like abrasive blasting?

Yes. BIOSHRINK FR300 has the same mechanical performance as a conventional flame-retardant wrap, and the biodegradable behaviour does not weaken the film. The Balfour Beatty pier-blasting programme is exactly the kind of high-abrasion, high-exposure job that proves it: containing abrasive blasting across roughly 150 piers beside a live 50mph carriageway, performing to the same standard as a conventional wrap.

Is BIOSHRINK FR300 fire-compliant for use this close to a live highway?

Yes. FR300 is a flame-retardant grade, independently certified by SGS to EN 13501-1 Class B-s1,d0. That certified fire performance is one of the reasons it can be specified for containment immediately alongside live traffic and the public.

Can BIOSHRINK be used on other containment and blasting projects?

Yes. The same FR300 specification and sealed-enclosure method applies to bridge and viaduct works, demolition envelopes, plant isolation and other industrial containment across the UK.

Planning a containment project?

Tell us about the structure, the works inside and your target dates, and EcoShrink will return a costed method and earliest start, using BIOSHRINK FR300 as the containment skin.

Contact the EcoShrink team to get a costed containment method and earliest start.