We recently completed the piled foundation for a two-storey unit at Royal Preston Hospital. Commissioned by Remedy Healthcare Solutions, we completed ahead of schedule and to budget, despite tight deadlines being potentially compromised by unexpected challenges.
A ground survey revealed the potential for weak areas to cause localised issues within the site. For such a problem, engineers would usually recommend ground treatments with a raft. This wasn’t possible because of the sensitive nature of working within a hospital, but we provided a solution with our significantly less intrusive bottom-drive mini-piling method.
The size and nature of the site couldn’t accommodate larger piling rigs, and the foundation had to be completed within just six days to minimise disruption to hospital staff and keep the project moving forward on budget. Failure wasn’t an option.
Unforeseen ground swell and other logistical issues pushed the project back a month, but we were still able to commit to it, and once we began, we installed all 48 piles, four tonnes of steel and 50 cubic metres of concrete on schedule.
Remedy’s Project Manager, Phil, was delighted, telling us: “It couldn’t have worked out better. The teams turned up on time and I didn’t have to stay and supervise. I trusted them to get on with the job which left me free to do other things”.
