Case studies

Central Square – Cardiff

Project: Central Square – Cardiff
Client: Churngold Construction / Sir Robert McAlpine
Hire: Dec 17 – Mar 18

Task:

NPC was asked to supply equipment for the reduction of augured CFA piles of 750mm diameter with 10 x T32 reinforcement bars. A tight site set on 2 levels (basement and ground).

Basement piles were installed through an existing concrete slab giving rise to issues with drainage and space – a maximum hole size of 1500mm x 1500mm was dug around exposed piles. Once exposed, we identified the piles had unevenly ‘mushroomed’ to around 1000mm making available space tighter than expected to prompt a rethink of pile cropper to be used.

Solution:

More by luck than judgement NPC were about to launch our new Quad XL cropper for augured piles up to 1050mm. Pictures and specifications were exchanged, and it was agreed the Quad XL could be the perfect tool for the job. Weighing 2.5T the cropper would be attached to a 21T Excavator.

The Quad XL cropper was delivered and demonstrated successfully in December 2017. After almost 3 months of hire, the cropper performed faultlessly; feedback was excellent, the cropper performed as promised, reducing 100’s of piles.

Leaving little in the way of trimming due to the excellent cut provided by the 4 powerful cutting blades, a program which was running late was brought back on time.