Ground Improvement & Services

Steel bars are drilled and grouted into the slope on a grid, and a facing of mesh and shotcrete spreads the load at the surface. The nailed soil mass then acts as a gravity retaining structure. Nailing is built from the top down as the excavation proceeds, which makes it a good match for cut slopes and basements.

Concrete is sprayed onto a prepared face over mesh. It is used as the facing for nailed slopes, as a skin to stop weathering of a cut, and to repair deteriorated concrete. Mix, thickness, mesh cover and curing are specified, and test panels confirm the quality.

Columns of compacted stone are built through soft soil. They stiffen the ground, carry load, speed up drainage and reduce settlement. They suit soft soils beneath footings and rafts and embankments over weak ground. A trial area confirms the column diameter and the improvement achieved.

Weak soil is treated in place or in a pugmill with lime, cement or other binders. Strength and stiffness rise, and swelling falls. It is applied beneath pavements and slabs on weak ground. The binder and dose are set by laboratory trials on the actual soil.

Exposed slopes are protected with coir, geomats and vegetated systems until the plants take over. The surface layer is chosen for slope angle, rainfall and soil. Drainage at the crest and toe is part of the design, since concentrated flow defeats most surface systems.

Paving fabrics slow reflective cracking under asphalt overlays. Interlocking pavers and turf blocks give permeable, load-bearing surfaces for car parks, yards and access roads. The base layer and edge restraint govern performance as much as the surface unit.

Calculations, drawings and specifications for the systems we supply and build, prepared in house and checked by qualified engineers. We can also support a client’s own consultant with design information, options and cost comparisons.

Design, supply and installation under one team and one programme, from site data to handover. Responsibility sits in one place, so that interfaces between designer, supplier and installer do not become gaps.

For works that the client’s contractor builds, our engineers supervise installation and keep stage-wise quality records. That includes checking material against the specification, inspecting each stage and recording tests.

Our rigs bore piles of up to 1200 mm diameter to depths of 32 m, through fills, soft clays and weathered rock, with stage-wise records kept from boring to concreting. Piles carry the load of bridges, flyovers, heavy plant and buildings on weak or variable ground down to firm strata.