CASE STUDY: RESTRICTED ACCESS PILING, ASDA TORYGLEN.
Project: The installation of bearing piles to provide foundations for a new mezzanine floor inside an ‘live’ Asda superstore.
Location: Toryglen Asda, Glasgow
Client: BAM Construction Ltd..
Project Overview
Van Elle was approached by BAM to propose a solution for installing piles to form the foundations for columns for the new mezzanine.
We have had significant experience in installing such foundations within live stores and have, in the past, used different techniques depending on the underlying ground, height restrictions, proposed loads, time/noise restrictions and any other conditions set out by the client.
This particular store had been built on 10m of made ground with significant obstructions discovered throughout the footprint of the building so this ruled out a traditional precast pile. A common, and relatively quick & clean, solution used for mezzanines is the screw pile, driven until it meets the required torque, although with circa 10m made ground this wasn’t an option. The height restrictions limited us to the use of some very small rigs so we proposed 220mm bottom driven steel tube piles, however, due to the obstructions we were likely to encounter, we opted to pre-auger through the 10m of made ground
We used two small and versatile rigs to install the piles; a Kitten was used to pre-auger and the mobi-drop was used to drive the steel tube to depth. These were ideal for working within such a restricted location as as, at only 2.1m and 2.25m tall respectively when operating, they were able to achieve their desired function without impeding on the roof space of the store. They were also able to track easily from location to location without a great deal of disturbance and the store’s members of staff were very organised and accommodating in preparing the work area by moving the displays to one side.
We finished the piling on time and on budget causing as little impact on the normal functioning of the store as possible. We developed a good working relationship with the principal contractor, Bam and with the Asda store staff.
The value of the work to Van Elle was £120k
