In August 2021, Aarsleff Ground Engineering conducted a sizeable multi-discipline project on behalf of client Team AB who have been appointed as the main contractor in building a new logistics park in Ipswich, Great Blakenham.
The establishment, named ‘Port One’, will soon boast a bespoke warehouse set to revolutionise e-commerce warehousing. The impressive warehouse will offer uninterrupted access 24/7 and 365 days per year. The overall site consists of 90 million cubic feet of capacity, 1.8m sq. foot floor space and 21m eaves capacity. The geographical positioning of the scheme is conveniently located a short 20-minute drive from the A14, which is also situated closely to the Port of Felixstowe.
With a combination of our own in-house capabilities and a highly skilled workforce, Aarsleff were able to design and deliver a range of complex ground engineering disciplines, bringing together our individual departments; Insitu, Specialist Retaining Walls and Geotechnical.
Toby Lee, Senior Technical Estimator from the Insitu team, observed the site area and grounds and worked in close collaboration with our Design manager Ash Rogers to coordinate the three departments that would bring this project to completion.
Ash Rogers commented: “We always seek to deliver the best solution that benefits our clients. We have provided the client with the ability to continue working around us with follow on works, which save times for our client Team AB and is subsequently, more beneficial to their client”
Our current scope of work contains of a contiguous wall between units 3 and 4 to enable a 8 meter retained height, and a soil nail supported sheet piled wall to retain the adjacent highway up to 10 meter high.
The key challenge was creating an economical solution that provided the right stability within a small amount of space available between each warehouse unit. Due to no restrictions on the developable space along the road, the best solution for this tactic was identified as sheet piles. 202No. sheet piles were installed by our specialist retaining wall team over the course of 2.5 weeks.
Once the sheet piles were in, the ground could be excavated for the soil nails to be installed. The benefit of combining these two disciplines together was that the client was able to dig the grounds immediately, which meant we could all move quickly together.
Soil nails were also chosen as the best economical solution to support the existing road, in total 267No. soil nails were installed by our Geotechnical team.
In between the warehouse units, contiguous flight auger was chosen as the solution to provide the best result in restricted space. Our Insitu team installed a Contiguous pile wall comprising 125No. 900 diameters x 16 meters over the course of 4.5 weeks.
The construction sequence had been developed with the client where we have taken great efforts to educate and help Team AB understand the process and learn along each stage of the project. The main challenge on this large scheme was sourcing materials due to Brexit. The commitment from our site teams together with cross-departmental collaboration was crucial in delivering project success. The project has been completed on time and in budget.
This article was paid for by Aarsleff Ground Engineering
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
