Plots 18 & 19 Fourth Quarter, Edinburgh

Main Contractor: Laing O Rourke
Engineer: Grontmij
Sector: Residential
Value: £206k

 

 

Green Piling installed reclaimed steel tubular piles to form part of the foundations for the two phases of high profile residential developments as part of the overall Edinburgh Waterfront Regeneration.

Steel tubular piles were chosen as the most suitable piling system that could provide high load capacities whilst successfuly penetrating the shallow and sloping rock head profile.

With Sandstone appearing at or very near ground level, it was proposed that the foundations for the building be a mixture of conventional pad foundations, and piles where the depth to rock exceeded 2m. At this depth excavation and mass concrete foundations became uneconomic.

Steel tubes driven with high energy accelerated hammers were needed to ensure sufficient penetration would be achieved into the Sandstone to maintain pile stability.

A total of 710 piles were installed in two phases of 244mm diameter, to support working loads of up to 800kN in lengths ranging from 3 - 8 metres.

As piling proceeded, Green Piling also undertook the trimming of steel tubular piles to their final cut off level. This was done with flame cutting equipment, with no exposure of our operatives to hand arm vibration (HAV).