Everphalt®, our Gilsonite® fortified preservation material was selected by Reading Borough Council for the conservation of the Basingstoke Road which runs north from the M4 Junction 11 to Reading Town Centre and Overdown Road and Peppard Road which access the Town Centre from the west and north respectively. All 3 roads are Reading’s main arterial access roads.
Reading is a major London commuter town as well as Berkshire’s largest town with a total built-up area population of 400,000 located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet and is a major commercial centre, especially for information technology and insurance as well as home to a University, football stadium and several large shopping centres.
The Everphalt® treated roads were all high traffic volume carriageways, resurfaced between 8 to 15 years ago. Circa 4,000 litres of Everphalt® was applied over a 10,000 m2 pavement area in August 2025.
A particular challenge in the Borough of Reading is that these major access arterial roads are extremely busy for most of every 24 hours’ period and they run through active commercial zones and/or highly populated residential areas which demand well managed overnight shifts with precise traffic management and fast cure times.
Solvent based penetrative preservation is the ideal solution in these circumstances. It allows for the maintenance of highly trafficked roads in built up areas with a minimum of user disruption.
Gavin Blogg, Velocity’s Business Development Manager comments “We are delighted to have delivered a rapid, safe, user convenient and highly cost-efficient preservation solution to some of Reading Borough Council’s critical arterial access routes and look forward to more projects in 2026 to further reduce the Borough’s financial and emissions per m2 cost of highways maintenance“.
Sam Shean, Reading Borough Council’s Highways & Traffic Services Manager advises “Reading Borough is progressive in seeking out the optimal maintenance solution and appreciates the criticality of using a proven preservation material on its key highway assets. We were therefore pleased to continue our relationship with Velocity in 2025 and follow their own specialist commitment to a Gilsonite® fortified preservation material type which has been so successful on the UK’s strategic DBFO PPP highways over the last 25 years.”
