Tabbed Widget Amends

CASE STUDY
Royal Mail
Section 1 – Project Overview

Royal Mail's Cardiff Mail Centre on Penarth Road is the primary sorting and distribution hub for the CF11 postcode district – a site that combines delivery operations, mail processing, public access facilities and disability‐compliant infrastructure under one roof. As Royal Mail transitions its fleet to electric vehicles, Cardiff was identified as a priority location for a major EV charging upgrade capable of supporting incoming vehicles without disrupting daily operations.

Royal Mail brought in Adler & Allan to design and build a complete charging solution across the site, combining electrical and civils work at a scale that matched the centre's operational demands. The scope centred on 40 BP Pulse Pro‐Smart post‐mounted chargers positioned across the front and rear of the facility, fed by new electrical distribution running from the plant room to a dedicated GRP roadside enclosure. Civils work was just as extensive – trenching, new walkways, drainage improvements and full line‐marking for EV bays and pedestrian routes – all delivered as one coordinated package. The upgrade forms a key part of Royal Mail's wider decarbonisation strategy, positioning Cardiff to take on its new electric fleet with confidence.

Section 2 – Client Challenge

The brief was straightforward on paper and complex in practice: Cardiff Mail Centre was about to receive a significant number of electric delivery vehicles, all needing reliable on‐site charging squeezed into an already busy, space‐constrained facility. With continuous inbound and outbound postal flows running through the site, there was no room for work that disrupted daily operations or compromised safety for staff and visitors.

The external layout needed reconfiguring to accommodate EV‐specific parking, safe pedestrian movement and proper traffic management – and that was before a deeper issue surfaced. Investigations uncovered historic drainage problems across the car park, with sections prone to flooding and pipework that turned out to be blocked or collapsed in several places.

Royal Mail needed more than a charging installation. It needed a partner who could design a compliant, future‐proof solution while fixing legacy infrastructure at the same time – all without pulling a live, high‐demand mail centre offline. That meant careful planning, close coordination with site stakeholders, and a phased approach built around the realities of a facility that couldn't afford downtime.

Section 3 – Solution and Approach

Adler & Allan took on both Principal Designer and Principal Contractor roles, giving Royal Mail a single point of accountability for regulatory compliance and delivery. Work began with detailed site investigations to map existing services, confirm safe working conditions, and lock in the optimal layout for chargers, cabling routes and civils work – ensuring every existing service was correctly identified, managed or safely isolated before work started.

From there, the real challenge was doing all of this without stopping the Mail Centre. A traffic management plan, developed jointly with the local Royal Mail team, kept a tightly managed work area running alongside live operations throughout construction. Electrical teams connected the plant room to a new GRP roadside enclosure – the backbone of the new charging network – while civils crews delivered trenching, walkways, crossings, drainage upgrades and full line‐marking for EV bays in parallel.

Close, continuous communication with site management kept programme, sequencing and safety aligned at every stage. The result: a combined electrical and civils installation delivered on time, fully compliant with local requirements and relevant regulations.

Section 4 – Project Execution

Delivering this project meant coordinating multiple disciplines against Royal Mail's operational, safety and regulatory requirements at once. Electrical teams installed all 40 BP Pulse Pro‐Smart chargers – 28 at the front of the facility, 12 at the rear – fed by new distribution cabling routed through freshly cut trenches to the GRP enclosure.

Civils teams worked in parallel, building new pedestrian walkways, crossings and EV bay markings to improve site navigation and safety, including new walkways to the rear alongside fresh pedestrian crossings and road marking.

Drainage became a major focus once investigations confirmed the extent of the collapsed and blocked pipework. Adler & Allan brought in its in‐house jetting services to clear, repair and restore the system, and installed 90 linear metres of ACO drainage channel to put an end to the site's flooding history for good.

Daily coordination with Royal Mail kept traffic management, access routes and operational continuity intact throughout – technical delivery and stakeholder engagement moving in lockstep at every phase.

Section 5 – Outcomes and Impact

The finished infrastructure let Royal Mail deploy 80 new electric vehicles straight away, supported by a charging strategy built around overnight charging on alternating days. Beyond the chargers themselves, the upgrade made the whole site safer and more efficient to operate – wider parking bays, dedicated pedestrian walkways and enhanced external lighting gave delivery staff a noticeably better environment to work in.

The drainage work delivered benefits that will last well beyond this project. Resolving the historic flooding and repairing collapsed pipework, backed by the new ACO drainage channels, means the car park can now handle adverse weather without the problems that used to plague it.

Taken together, the project didn't just support Royal Mail's decarbonisation strategy – it delivered a modernised, safer, more efficient site from the ground up, and showcased Adler & Allan's ability to run complex electrical and civils work inside a live, high‐demand logistics facility.