Murphy was brought on board by Higgins Construction to provide piling for this housing project in south-west London. When complete, the Clapham Park Estate will bring 201 new homes to the area.
The works package included the installation of 462 600mm diameter secant wall piles and 662 350mm diameter bearing piles.
The secant wall and bearing piles support three new medium rise residential estates that Higgins would go on to construct.
Works began in March 2017 with the team on site for a total of 15 weeks.
The project was completed on time and on budget.
For the project Murphy designed and installed CFA piles, rotary bored piles, a secant pile wall and a guide wall. Providing a value engineered solution for the project was the core goal of the in-house design team.
By increasing the diameter of the piles from 300mm piles to 350mm Murphy were able to increase production values and decrease the overall amount of concrete used. This also meant that the lengths of the piles could be reduced creating better value for the client as well as a significant reduction to the programme.
From this project, the team found that installing 350mm piles was more cost effective. The increase in pile diameter meant that the R312 and SF50 rigs could provide a higher production rate than when they were used to install 300mm piles.
A ‘siltbuster’ roadside concrete washout was used on site, to reduce the pH of the concrete washout. This reduced the risk of releasing high alkaline waters into the environment.
During the project the client uncovered a high voltage cable that ran through the middle of the piling works area. Murphy worked with the client to create a pile installation sequence that would best help their programme for re-routing the cable.
As the cable ran through the secant wall in two sections it was crucial to work closely with the client to construct the basement wall, create a safe working space for operatives, and make sure there was no service interruptions for the local community.
Due to the ground conditions on site there was concern that the steel reinforcement cages could begin to ‘slump’ once the piles had been constructed. The team used ‘tell-tale’ light reinforcement to measure any slumping of the cages.
This proved to be a very useful system in helping the crew monitor cage movement and remain confident that the pile reinforcement level was correct.
The Ground Engineering team at Murphy offers in-house pile design, value engineering and bespoke technical solutions throughout the UK and Ireland. We have a proven track record of successfully delivering both minor and major works across a range of sectors.