The £114,000 contract, implemented to achieve long-term serviceability, is believed to be the UK's first major bridge strengthening project to employ the combined techniques.

The six 1.4 metres x 6.4 metres reinforced concrete pier heads that support the thirty-year old, 820 metre long steel box girder construction, are located 41 metres above the Cleddau estuary. Working from suspended scaffolding and the existing mobile bridge gantries, CRL operatives firstly conducted a ferroscan survey to locate all existing steel reinforcement bars within the pier heads to enable core holes (for the post tensioning bars) to be safely drilled.

The concrete surface was prepared by high-pressure water jetting and then treated with Sika Ferrogard 903 corrosion inhibitor to improve corrosion resistance of the existing steel reinforcement. Between three and seven layers of 'SikaWrap 230C Hex' CFRP was embedded into 'Sikadur 330' thixotropic epoxy adhesive and rollered after application to displace any air entrapment or wrinkles and form a smooth, uniform finish.

Thirty-six 40mm diameter cores were drilled on the longest elevation of each pier before 20/25mm diameter corrosion protected high tension bars were inserted through the cores and post tensioned to the specified torque. The annulus between each steel bar and the concrete was grouted up with a free flowing cementitious duct grout, manufactured by Weber sbd. Finally, the entire CFRP surface received a decorative/UV protective coating of Sikagard Elastocolour 670W.