ONE of the largest concrete pours undertaken in the North-East this year went ahead this week as the sales floor base was laid at a multi-million pound shopping centre.

In a process that normally takes eight weeks, contractor Clugston Construction has laid 875 cubic metres of concrete in just two days at the new Morrisons supermarket, part of the £26m Regent Walk shopping development in Redcar, east Cleveland.

The company set a record for itself with the contract when it decided to lay the floor for the 70,000 sq ft superstore over two days, to minimise disruption to the town centre from the delivery vehicles and to enable the rest of the building programme to go ahead uninterrupted.

Clugston used a special laser-guided screening machine and 20 workers to put down the concrete in two 24- hour shifts.

The operation involved the careful planning and co-ordination of 145 deliveries by a succession of vehicles carrying ready mixed concrete.

"The deliveries caused scarcely any problems to local traffic," said Clugston project manager Paul Bullimore.