Keeping quiet on the quayside Tuesday, 20th May 2008
Durable steel tubular piles have been driven into a quay beside a former shipyard in Sunderland in a considerate manner to provide a solid platform for 48 waterfront business units.
Foundation specialist Roger Bullivant Ltd (RBL) installed 230 piles on the site of the Quay West business village beside the River Wear in two weeks during May. Each steel tube was driven to a depth of between 10m and 12m through made ground, firm and stiff clay and a rock head of limestone until refusal using an RB 5006 series Quiet Hammer rig. The rig features a patented sound deadening system designed to significantly reduce audible interference usually associated with driving steel and precast piles.
“Working close to open water means sound can travel further, so we decided to use our Quiet Hammer to keep the noise down,” said RBL contract manager John Baggott. “Steel piles were suited to the site because an earlier investigation found that the made ground contained many obstructions such as boulders, which precluded the use of augered foundation techniques.”
RBL made use of 178mm diameter open ended, thick walled steel tubes, designed to accommodate loads of up to 500kN. The contract was valued at a little over £100,000 and piling was carried out on behalf of main contractor Brims Construction. Each pile is currently being filled with concrete and reinforcement by the main contractor to support foundation beams.
