Piling Contractors
Piling contractors are employed to implement extra support at the foundations of a new building. This support comes in the form of large, robust columns that are driven into the ground. Piling is usually only required when the site on which a building is being constructed is uneven. Seek advice from the architect or whoever is in charge of the build to confirm whether or not piling is needed to be done.
Construction piling and any other type of construction work should only be undertaken by qualified piling contractors. It is crucial that piling is completed to a safe standard. There are many piling options available which you can discuss with your piling contractor. Make sure that you are clear about what exactly you are looking for and agree exactly what costs are involved in the piling project and how long it will take to complete. Do this before the work is underway so that both sides know where they stand.
iPhone App for the Construction Industry
The company, SmartBuild Software, have developed an iPhone application which enables construction site managers to monitor the clean-up of their sites by sub-contractors. There is a wide spread problem of sub-contractors being either very slow when cleaning-up or simply leaving the site without doing it. This can result in the contractor incurring additional costs by employing extra staff to do the cleaning work.
The software was designed after research was carried out and it emerged that there was significant demand for a technological solution to the ongoing problem. The software is suitable for construction companies of all sizes. The app capabilities include recording and actioning a clean-up by a specific date or penalties are issued, sending warning notifications to workers and reporting on the performance of workers. The dashboard displays issues that are pending, late and resolved.
SmartBuild Software headquarters are at NovaUDC, Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin. They are marketing their new products at the UK, UK and Irish market.
Driving Sheet Pile Walls
There are several ways of driving sheet pile walls into position; threading into pre-cut trenches, pressed, impact-driven and vibratory driven.
Threading sheet pile walls into pre-cut trenches is a suitable technique for use on most soils. After a trench has been excavated or holes drilled in the ground, they are filled with a suspension and sheet piles can be driven in up to their full depth.
Pressing sheet pile walls is a process that can be used if there are noise and vibration limitations due to the construction taking place in residential areas or near to existing buildings. The sheet piles are driven into the ground by hydraulic pressure. The pressing plant can be supported by a crane, guided by a leader or be supported by heads already in position.
Impact driven sheet pile walls can be positioned in the ground using either slow or rapid-action systems. Drop hammers and diesel hammers are slow-action, with between 24 and 32 blows per minutes and are used in cohesive soils. These hammers allow the pore water pressure to disperse between blows. Rapid-action hammers give between 100 and 400 blows per minute at a lighter driving weight than slow-action hammers.
Vibratory sheet pile driving is derived from harmonic excitation of the sheet pile, causing the restructuring of the soil along with decreasing the friction between the soil and sheet pile. Harmonic excitation is produced by eccentric weights in the vibrator.
Piling Rig Accident
Two construction companies have been fined for an accident that occurred in December 2007 on Tower Street in Hull. On the busy street in rush hour, a piling rig being used for the construction of a hotel fell over and rolled into the middle of the road.
Amazingly, no one was killed or even injured in the event, but both companies, who pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety Work Act, have been fined. The main contractor, Multibuild, who provided the stone platform on which the piling rig worked, have been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £18,687 in costs. Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering Ltd, who were sub-contractor, responsible for carrying out the work, have been fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £17,676 in costs.
Dave Redman, the HSE Inspector, has said that, “It is every company’s responsibility to ensure that employees and members of the public are not exposed to danger from heavy construction machinery. There is extensive guidance governing safe working in this sector, and we hope today’s prosecution serves to remind people of their duties so that we don’t witness an incident of this kind again.”