Piling Mat Design – Crossrail – St Giles Circus Demolition

Crossrail is building a new railway for London, running from Reading and Heathrow in the west, through 42km of new tunnels under London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. The project is building 10 new stations and upgrading 30 more, while integrating new and existing infrastructure.

St Giles is located meters away from the Tottenham Court Road tube station. H Smith was awarded the demolition contract to prepare the site for new construction. The site consisted of an island of buildings of various ages. The building were a few single storey to a five storey building that formed the front of St Giles High Street.

The works consisted of careful demolition to remove redundant listed buildings, installation of weatherproof protection to exposed walls, underpinning, retaining walls and the installation of a piling mat for the next phase of the project.

THE CHALLENGE

The next phase of the project after H Smith had completed their work was to construct piled foundations and retaining walls. A 100 tonne piling rig was to be used. There was a risk that the rig could topple if it slid off a backfilled platform.

The solution was to build a solid piling mat that would take the loads.

A wall was designed 1.8m wide x 3m high. The wall was to be built using interlocking concrete blocks a solution BlockWalls could provide.

BlockWalls produced working drawing for the site to determine the number of blocks required.

The site was very tight and traffic congestion in London is high.

Blockwalls worked closely with the site manager to ensure loads where derived on time.

The blocks are supplied with a lifting bolt and clutch for simple movement of the blocks on site.

The blocks where placed on a concrete foundation. The area behind the blocks was then backfilled and consolidated in layers.

Finally a concrete raft was cast over the block to complete the piling mat.

On completion of the piling the piling mat would be removed from site.

A NEW RAILWAY FOR LONDON AND THE SOUTH EAST

From improving journey times across London, to easing congestion and offering better connections, the Elizabeth line will provide easier, quicker and more direct travel opportunities across the capital

The demolition contractor was H SMITH

OUR PEDIGREE

Working in partnership with structural engineers and civil engineering contractors.

We come from the civil engineering sector and have invested in the development of advanced concrete technology and quality assurance. Our mission is to support structural engineers and civil engineering contractor to come up with innovative solutions to common problems. Block Walls are the ideal solution for structural engineers and civil contractors who are seeking cost effective solutions to properly manage their projects.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

You send us a basic description or drawing of the area you need to construct and a description of the operation. We will do the rest.

WE MAKE BUYING SIMPLE

1. Our design team will establish which specification will best fit your environment and calculate the number of blocks required to do the job

2. We quote, you order, we make

3. We deliver

WE CAN DESIGN A SOLUTION FOR YOU

We offer a full design service from simply working out how many blocks you require for your project to full design including drawings and calculations.