A 2,000-home new community on the edge of Taunton. Principal infrastructure contractor since 2020.

Delivering infrastructure for a 2,000-home development is complex under any circumstances. At Orchard Grove, that complexity is compounded by the number of simultaneous workstreams, the live nature of the site as residents move in ahead of full completion, and the scale of individual packages — from bulk earthworks running into hundreds of thousands of cubic metres to the installation of major drainage attenuation systems, adoptable roads and utility networks across a site spanning hundreds of acres.

Coordinating across four housebuilder clients, a dedicated project team, highway authorities and utility providers, while maintaining a safe, productive site and keeping pace with a demanding programme, requires exactly the kind of management resource and direct delivery capability that Groundfix is built around.

The earthworks alone at Orchard Grove represent one of the largest ongoing bulk excavation programmes in Somerset. On the Employment Land phase, our team moved approximately 54,298m³ of material to prepare the formation for the commercial units and associated infrastructure. Phase 3AB at Sherford's sister programme involves over 200,000m³ of cut and over 325,000m³ of fill — the kind of volumes that require our full in-house plant fleet operating continuously across the site.

Managing drainage attenuation for a development of this scale is equally demanding. Surface water management, foul drainage, pumping stations, flow control structures and the coordination of adoptable sewer networks across a live site all require specialist knowledge, experienced site management and a contractor that can self-deliver rather than fragment the work across multiple specialist subcontractors.

Groundfix's delivery at Orchard Grove spans the full civil engineering scope of the project. Key completed works to date include:

Earthworks & Bulk Excavation: Ongoing cut and fill operations across multiple development phases, including the Employment Land area earthworks and the preparatory bulk earthworks for new residential parcels. Total earthworks volumes across the site run well into into the hundreds of thousands of cubic metres.

Roads & Highways: Section 278 works enabling entry to the development via a new roundabout, construction of the main spine road through the development, residential roads build to adoptable standards, and the Employment Land road is also fully complete.

Drainage & Attenuation: Full surface water and foul drainage networks across the site, including 16 attenuation ponds completed to date, a foul pumping station, a large pre-cast concrete culvert, two smaller piped culverts and the construction and installation of seven new substations— to support the growing power demands of the development.

Civic Square: Full infrastructure delivery for the Orchard Grove Civic Square community space, including drainage, services (power, fibre, water), kerbing, edging and block paving base works. The Civic Square opened to the public in December 2025.

Park & Ride: Delivery of the new Park & Ride facility, including 292 parking bays, 18 disabled bays and 11 EV charging bays, alongside a dedicated bus interchange. Opened by Vistry and Somerset Council in early 2026, this is the first facility of its kind in Somerset — operating electric buses directly into Taunton town centre.

Services: Installation of gas mains, electrical supply, water infrastructure and fibre alongside the relevant utility providers, coordinated across a live multi-phase site.

Groundfix continues to deliver at Orchard Grove, with the Employment Land infrastructure, further residential phases and civic infrastructure all in programme.