Pipe rammer used for bottling plant drainage

A Tracto Mini Olympus Grundoram pipe rammer has been deployed on a site in Derbyshire to ram a 325 mm steel casing under the concrete foundations of a new bottling plant.

The casing was required to hold and protect an underground plastic pipe carrying away rainwater from the downpipes of roof guttering on the new building.

The project is the first development in the UK for German soft-drinks producer, MEG, part of the Schwarz Group that owns the Lidl supermarket chain. Scheduled to open later this the plant will process, bottle and distribute mineral water and soft drinks to the Lidl stores across the UK and Ireland.

The 540,000 sqft plant is on the Dove Valley Industrial Park in Foston and was previously farming land.

Main contractor GMI Construction Group worked with civils specialist Rook Services and groundworks subcontractor RO Donaghey on the groundworks. The foundations were laid after dewatering, stabilising and compacting of the soil – this subsequently required a highly powerful solution to install the steel casing. With previous experience of trenchless techniques, Rook Services recommended pipe ramming as the quickest, safest and most cost-effective solution to install drainage under the foundations.  And, as an existing customer, contacted Tracto UK for advice.

The Mini Olympus – 1080 mm long, 180 mm wide and 720 Nm force, was proposed for the job and delivered to site for operation by Rook Services. The rammer was deployed at a depth of 400 mm from the crown of pipe to the base of the foundation and the total time ramming was just 55 minutes for the six-metre installation. A foam pig was propelled through the casing using pressurised air which cleaned out the debris following installation enabling the high density poly ethylene (HDPE) drainage tube to be pulled through.

Rook Services manager Nick Richards said that Tracto “came up trumps as ever”.

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