Reinstatement Works for
Utilities and Highways

Reinstatement works are the job of putting the ground back together properly after an excavation. After a utility company digs a trench to repair a main, or a contractor excavates to install new ducting, or a developer opens up a road to make a connection, someone has to refill the hole and put the surface back. That’s reinstatement. Done to NRSWA and local council standards, it covers backfill, sub-base preparation, and the final surface (tarmac, block paving, concrete, kerbs, or whatever the specification calls for).

NRSWA is the New Roads and Street Works Act, which sets the national specification for how excavations in public highways must be reinstated. A compliant reinstatement uses the right materials in the right layers to the right depth, with the right compaction, topped with a surface course that matches what was there originally. Compliance is what stops the road sinking, stops the surface cracking, and stops the utility company being called back to redo the work. Every McFadden reinstatement is delivered to NRSWA specification or the local council’s own standard where that’s stricter.

The McFadden reinstatement scope covers four buckets. Backfill is the layered refill of the excavation, using recycled aggregate delivered by the in-house grab lorry fleet. Sub-base is the compacted foundation under the surface. Tarmac covers hand-lay, machine-lay, patch repairs, overlays, coloured tarmacs, line painting, anti-skid surfacing, and cold lay. White works covers kerbs, paving slabs, block paving, modular paving, concreting, and resin surfacing (through a trusted partner). Every scope runs to the specification for that particular surface and location.

Cold lay is a tarmac product that cures at ambient temperature instead of needing to be laid hot from a tarmac truck. It’s used where road closure time is the pressure point, because the road can be reopened to traffic within hours rather than waiting for a hot tarmac cooling window. Typical use cases are around ironworks, small patch repairs, and emergency reinstatement on live highways. More councils are approving cold lay as the products improve. McFadden’s teams are trained and ready to use it where the specification allows.

Yes. A significant portion of McFadden’s reinstatement work comes through civils firms, utility contractors, and main contractors who need a specialist reinstatement team on a scheme they’re delivering end-to-end. The NRSWA and council standards are the same regardless of who holds the lead contract. Subcontract reinstatement enquiries welcome.

Yes. McFadden handle both ends of the spectrum. Small patch repairs are hand-lay work, often following a single burst main or small excavation. Larger schemes are machine-lay work, covering big footprints on new-build estates, term maintenance contracts, or extensive highway reinstatement. Some jobs combine both on the same site. The right crew and plant for the scope get assigned to each job.

McFadden deliver reinstatement works across Hertfordshire, London, Surrey, Essex, Cambridgeshire, and Berkshire as standard, working from the Hertfordshire depot. Larger schemes and term contracts take teams further afield. Get in touch for projects outside this core area.

Reinstatement is the post-excavation context: a hole was opened up for utility or highway work, and the reinstatement job is to put it back together. Standalone tarmac work is new surfacing not tied to an excavation, like surfacing a new car park, overlaying an existing driveway, or resurfacing a road for condition reasons. McFadden do both – if the work you need is standalone commercial surfacing rather than post-excavation reinstatement, the tarmac and road surfacing service is the right starting point.