EMBELLISHMENT REINVENTED

摘要

There are more than 4,000 lighting columns fitted with traditional cast-iron embellishments in the county of Essex, all maintained by Essex Highways, a partnership between Ringway Jacobs and Essex County Council. In early 2019 a lighting column with traditional cast-iron embellishments was involved in a road traffic incident and knocked down. On inspection, it was found to have rusted through beneath the embellishment kit. This type of corrosion (as most ILP members will undoubtedly be well aware) is called galvanic corrosion. If this column hadn't been knocked down in the accident, it is possible it would have collapsed anyway because of a lack of structural integrity. This column was not the first, nor likely to be the last, that was potentially unsafe because of galvanic corrosion, with such degradation over time one of the key drivers behind the ILP's launch last year of its GN22 ATOMS asset management toolkit.