The Suttle Piling team spends a great deal of their time either working over water, in the water or diverting rivers and harbours to allow normally submerged sites to be dry, safe and secure for new construction.
Working in water and diverting rivers brings special challenges including substantial environmental consideration and controls. Suttle Piling brings certainty and simplicity to ground engineering projects in the water.
For example, on the DNaire Fish Pass Schemes our team’s up-front attention to detail had to ensure that all the requisite permissions, approvals and licences were proactively obtained, and that all stakeholder agreements were in place in advance to meet the required timescales.
Only then could the cantilever sheet pile cofferdam be installed to create a safe and secure worksite for the new construction with all the necessary environmentally sensitive de-watering solutions.
Accessing the river worksite adds another problem, sites are often difficult to reach. At Fiddleford Manor Hydro-Turbine a haul road had to be provided across wetland pasture with two temporary bridges to cross obstructions in order to reach the site and install the temporary steel piling structures. In some cases, temporary access road construction uses specialist single size drystone basalt aggregate, a material that is sympathetic to sensitive ecological biodiverse environments.
At the West Lydford Weir Repairs project an ancient weir on the River Brue had suffered a partial structural collapse to the downstream weir face, and severe scouring to the downstream toe, jeopardising the structural integrity of the weir.
We undertook the dewatering of the works area and the water supply to the downstream works site was maintained by over-pumping the dry works area, utilising a combination of pump and siphon systems. Temporary sheet piling was utilised to stabilise the riverbank and accommodate construction plant and equipment to complete the permanent solution.
The Cheesebottom Weir project had all the similar approval processes and license challenges to overcome as described previously. The construction methodology involved a range of enabling and in-channel activities to facilitate safe access and dry working conditions within a sensitive watercourse environment.
An innovative floating bridge system was developed to maintain site access without disrupting bat flight paths, avoiding the need for traditional scaffold structures. Additionally, temporary access platforms and haul roads were constructed using low-impact materials to reduce disturbance within the river corridor.
River protection, scour protection and diversion works often involve working adjacent to major highway and rail services. The M27 Romsey Road Bridge Replacement project involved the replacement of the existing bridge, over the M27 near Southampton.
Working immediately adjacent to the live motorway our temporary sheet piling works provided a retaining wall structure to create the temporary access roads. Our permanent work activities included the installation of the bored bearing piles for the new bridge structure, anchor installation and reinforced earth banks around the piling platform and new abutments.
For more information how we can help with your river and inland watercourse project challenges please visit https://www.suttlepiling.co.uk/ or contact us at [email protected]