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Piling that is generally less than 300mm in diameter (or across the diagonal in the case of a square section) is widely regarded in the industry as mini piling and can be either driven or bored, the techniques are broadly similar to those described above. Mini Piling can be used in restricted sites for generally light loads, but savings in material costs are often outweighed by the specialist expensive and smaller equipment that works slower than its larger counterpart. This type of pile has other specialist applications that can be useful in certain circumstances penetrating rock, overcoming obstructions although this can be very specialist equipment and it should not be assumed that all piling contractors who offer mini piling are capable of this type of operation.
CASE STUDIES
A commercially developed site in Oldham that had evidence of coal workings beneath required grouting but as a further precaution the Engineer required the piles to be taken down to a level well beneath the upper seam and the required maximum load of 550kn. A 300mm mini pile was used and piles were taken down to 12m, 7m into hard rock and AJH piling completed the work on time on budget.
Also an adjacent boundary wall had collapsed prior to our arrival on site obscuring some of the pile locations and we were asked if we could provide a cheap temporary solution which we were able to do (see "Other Services" section) |
