SPI Piling Ltd have been awarded the temporary and permanent sheet piling works by Kier Infrastructure Ltd for the sheet pile installation across the river Calder. The works are required to enable Kier to repair the existing culvert which has breached which would result in the river Calder bank failure if the remedial works was not required. The work is currently ongoing and will result in numerous visits. Duration of works 3.0 weeks.

Visit 1
The work consisted of the installation of 136nr L606 sheet piles varying in length from 10.0 to 12.0m. The piles were installed in 2nr lines across the river Calder to stop the water flow to enable the breached section to be pumped down to enable Kier to carry out the repair works to the culvert. The sheet pile installation was carried out using the 35t excavator, Grizzly side grip and Dx25 impact hammer with all works carried out working from floating pontoons. Duration of works 1.0 weeks.

Visit 2
During the draw down of the river the bank started to collapse. SPI carried out the installation of an additional 30nr L605 x 10.0m sheet piles working from floating plant using 35t excavator, Grizzly side grip and Dx25 impact hammer with the piles installed into the tow path to cut off any further water ingress caused by the collapse of the embankment.

Visit 3
This visit consisted of the installation of 169nr L605A x 12.0m sheet piles driven into the embankment surrounding the repaired culvert. The sheet piles were installed to tie into the new concrete culvert repair and to form a wash wall to protect the river embankment from barges manoeuvring down the river when reopened. The sheet pile installation was carried out using the 35t excavator, Grizzly side grip and Dx25 impact hammer carried out on a stone platform. SPI also carried out the removal of the damaged/redundant existing wash wall piles using the grizzly side grip piler. Duration of works 3.0 weeks.

Visit 4
SPI’s final visit will consist of the extraction of the 136nr sheet piles which span the river Calder to enable the passage to be reopened. Works will be carried out using a pile tosa press to extract the sheet piles handled by the 35t excavator and grizzly side grip piler whilst working from pontoons. Due to restricted access the piles press has to be stripped down into 6 tonne sections (or below) to enable the excavator to position the tosa on the pile line to be extracted whilst working from the pontoons. The tosa pile press will have to be tripped