In March 2012 leading Irish piling contractor, P J Edwards & Co Ltd, established a dedicated business unit to execute its ever increasing number of piling contracts in the UK. Since then P J Edwards & Co (UK) Ltd has successfully delivered piling contracts from Southampton to The Highlands of Scotland, from its head office base in Milton Keynes.
The UK operation has a management team who were previously in charge of Carillion Piling and who hold the respect of civil engineering and building contractors throughout the UK.
The growth of the UK operation over the last 12 months has been accelerated by the award of increasingly large value contracts. The latest two, namely the Heads of the Valleys road improvements near Merthyr Tydfil (£2.5M) and a development at Kings Cross in London (£1.0M), have required a rapid step up in investment, which was not previously envisaged by the company at this point in time.
As a direct result of the latest contract awards the company has recently purchased two additional heavy duty rotary piling rigs and a substantial quantity of large diameter drilling tools, casings, oscillators and coring equipment.
To service and maintain the growing fleet of rigs P J Edwards (UK) has just opened a new Northern office and plant depot. This impressive 8,000 square metre development is located near Doncaster and lies within 1.5Km of the adjacent M18 motorway; ideally situated for serving contracts both North and the South of the Country.
At Heads of the Valleys the rotary bored and cased piling system has to install piles up to 1200mm in diameter and depths in excess of 20 metres. The pile installation has to encompass the risk of old mine workings, artesian water strikes and the penetration of the very tough and variable ground conditions. The piles are installed through superficial glacial deposits and socketed into the underlying mudstones and sandstones of the Lower Coal Measures Group. This bedrock occurs with intervening bands of very strong ironstone and coal seams. The whole area is described as a shatter zone associated with the adjacent Tredegar geological fault.
At Kings Cross a combination of continuous flight auger piles, rotary bored and cased piles are required. The largest of these is a 1500mm diameter pile, drilled to a depth of 55 metres below ground level. At this depth the pile extends below the London Clay formation and penetrates the Woolwich and Reading Beds. A Bentonite system has been set up on site to provide support fluid for the unstable founding stratum near the toe of the pile.
To manage the increased workload P J Edwards (UK) has taken on additional experienced staff at both their Milton Keynes and Doncaster offices, attracted by the opportunities for future growth.