August 2024 sees the arrival of our newest purchase, the Kowan TOSA WP150.

Investment in the business is key to securing the long-term future of the Company, and so this new addition boasts everything that should be expected from Major Capital Investment, such as this.

The purchase of this machine means that the entire heavy plant fleet of SPI Piling Ltd meets the rigorous requirements, now expected across the whole of the country in terms of emissions standards, fuels and sustainability!

This state-of-the-art, silent pile press enables piles to be installed and extracted in highly sensitive locations; they are compact in size so are also ideally suited to height restricted sites i.e. in buildings or under bridges and can press piles into most soil types although, depending on stiffness/density, pre-augering or water jetting is sometimes required.

After installing the first 3 piles, it travels along the installed piles using the reactionary force to press the next pile in (instead of using a hammering or vibratory action) thus creating very little noise or vibration. It’s called self-travelling as unlike other pile drivers it doesn’t need any other piece of machinery to assist it – apart from a crane that lifts the pile into the chuck of the pile press.

But what are the benefits of this type of machine?

• Virtually noise and vibration free means installation of steel piles as close as 50cm to existing structures or services.
• Exclusive mast tilt/self traveller ensures a more efficient safer operation.
• Operates at ground level with no piling gates making it a very safe method of operation.
• Wireless radio control providing a broad range of vision for the operator and a safe working environment.
• Wireless radio remote operations allowing installation of piles in hard to reach/ access areas, such as water courses, embankments, beneath structures.
• Light and compact requiring only a small crane for pile pitching.
• Ideal for height restricted sites.

As a business we are committed to ensuring our impact on the environment is minimal. Having strict policies regarding our environmental impact and the sustainability of the services we provide are key to our success.

The pile press is ahead of its competition in allowing the operator better visual aids in terms of health and safety monitoring of the installation and, equally importantly, providing live visual data advising on quality aspects that may occur during installation.

Not only does the digital display provide live accurate data to the operator allowing for any corrective measures to be applied simply and immediately, but prompts the use of the exclusive mast tilt feature, only available on these machines.

• Mast tilt for precision – Gives the operator an additional correction function for pile verticality and enables working on gradients.
• Mast tilt for productivity – The self travel manoeuvre is fast and efficient; the operator maintains machine verticality after each manoeuvre with the touch of a button.
• Mast tilt for safety – Self levelling eliminates the unsafe practice of chocking up the chassis/clamps with wedges.

Another Exclusive feature is the self travel support system, which eliminates the use of the self travel support bars, used on the older models.

Working to minimise our Impact

A lot of projects can cause significant disturbance to the environments they are carried out in. Many things need to be considered within each project with regards to the environmental impact it will have on the local area, both during and after construction has finished. If these considerations are not made the projects would undoubtedly suffer delay and disruption. As part of the early planning process construction methodologies are some of the first considerations.

We have worked in many environmentally sensitive areas from inner cities where noise and vibrations to humans are the major concern to the pleasure of working in many rural and coastal/ marine environments. Whatever the scenario our specialist teams adopt the very best technologies when coming face to face with nature. We carry out specific planning processes for our specialist plant and equipment that helps rather than harms nature.

Industry leading choices, moving away from the traditional approach of costs over environment are being made at all levels, driving best practice first and foremost.

Focusing on feeding our vision of continuous improvement, eliminating waste, reducing carbon and reducing cost, these decisions are key to these successes.

We want our clients to know that it is not simply about “a pile that works”, and that it is very much more than that, and very much centres around maximising the benefits, whilst reducing impacts.