Carriageway Ironwork Adjustment – cost per nr – UK 2026 Rate Guide

Budget rate for supply & lay · typical budget rate before your adjustments

Labour, plant, materials, outputs and waste — yours to edit, as an Excel. Three free.

Rates are UK national (non-London): central London and constrained urban sites typically run dearer — adjust the labour, plant and access lines in the build-up accordingly.

Carriageway ironwork adjustment

per m² · supply & lay

£165 – £213 / nr

What is it

Raising and re-bedding an existing gully grating or manhole / chamber cover & frame to a new surface level after a carriageway resurface, priced per adjusted frame (nr). A highways gang saw-cuts and breaks out the existing surround, lifts the existing frame, rebuilds the seating on one to two courses of engineering brick bedded to the new level, then re-beds and haunches the EXISTING frame on rapid-set mortar and makes good. This rate ADJUSTS the existing ironwork ONLY — supplying a new cover, frame or precast chamber is a separate set-complete item, and the connecting drainage run, the carriageway courses laid or planed, road markings and traffic management are all separate items too. The rate carries three operations:

Break out — saw-cut the bituminous / concrete surround square and break out the haunching around the frame with the handheld breaker.
Rebuild seating — lift out the existing frame and rebuild the seating on one to two courses of engineering brick to the new surface level.
Re-bed & haunch — re-bed and haunch the existing frame on rapid-set high-strength mortar to the finished level and make good.

Rate range by bedding & reinstatement spec

Sand:cement bedding£138 – £178 / nr

Rapid-set high-strength£165 – £213 / nr

Fibre-reinforced / epoxy system£188 – £242 / nr

Budget rate per m².

3 key cost drivers

Ironwork type, raise height & access

A lighter gully grating raises faster than a heavy 600 mm manhole cover, and a large or double-triangular chamber cover slower still; a bigger raise of more brick courses, and junctions, bends, restricted access and night working all slow the gang and lift the rate per frame. The London & South-East market runs dearer. It is the key driver of the labour per nr; region rides this note, not a dropdown.

Bedding & reinstatement spec

A proprietary rapid-set high-strength bedding mortar — the grade a carriageway frame needs to reopen to traffic quickly — is the default. A plain sand:cement bed for a non-trafficked frame is cheaper; a high-performance fibre-reinforced or epoxy reinstatement system runs dearer. It is the driver of material cost — the published band already spans it. Labour dominates the per-nr rate, so the bedding spec is a modest lever, and there is no scenario switch here, so no calculator: the band is the answer.

Location

London and the South East typically add around 20% to labour.

Estimator

Budget rate generator

£165 – £213 / nr

Covers the break-out, the rebuilt brick seating, the bedding & haunching mortar, re-bedding the existing frame to level, the highways gang, breaker & saw and O&P · excl. a new cover/frame/chamber, the connecting run, the courses laid/planed, markings, traffic management & VAT

Exclusions

Lifting & material distribution — telehandler / forklift, hoist and site-distribution labour (an attendance, in main-contractor prelims)
Supply of a NEW cover, frame or precast chamber (a separate set-complete item — the manhole / inspection chamber or road gully rate), the connecting drainage run and disposal of arisings
The carriageway courses laid or planed, road markings, traffic management, prelims & VAT
Scaffold supply (usually in preliminaries)
Preliminaries — main-contractor site set-up, management & welfare
VAT