Between February and September 2020, VolkerGround Engineering was awarded three contracts by Deconstruct Ltd as part of the Cambridge House Redevelopment project in Piccadilly, London. The existing building, a Grade 1 listed former townhouse and home of the Naval and Military Club, is being converted into a luxury 5-storey hotel and private residences.
The three contracts awarded to VolkerGround Engineering; Building 1 Half Moon Street, The Courtyard, and Building 3, comprised a total of 510 rotary bored piles.
The piles, up to 900mm in diameter and 30m in depth, were installed into stiff London clay to form hard/ firm secant walls. Designed by AKTII, these were initially installed to allow Deconstruct to excavate the new underground basement, and provide support for the construction of the new hotel development above.
The site, with extremely restricted access, is located in the centre of London. The team adopted a ‘just in time’ approach for deliveries, and utilised a Soilmec SR45 to construct the piles. Our team worked closely with Deconstruct to develop a logistics plan in order to navigate the rig and crane around the back streets of Piccadilly to safely mobilise and demobilise between each phase.
Our site team also worked in collaboration with Deconstruct to ensure that works continued during activities that may have otherwise impacted the programme. These activities included coring out existing piles present along the pile line, working from multiple level platforms in restricted areas, interfacing with other contractors working on the site and piling within close proximity of existing structures.
All three phases were completed to budget and, due to the excellent collaboration between the VolkerGround Engineering site team and Deconstruct, each phase was delivered ahead of programme.
Richard Haymen Joyce, piling director at Deconstruct, commented: “Nice work VolkerGround Engineering. A very tight site to work in, all credit to the piling team.”