News

Carnon Contracting are nearing completion of the first phase of work at The Sardine Factory development on the waterfront in West Looe. The Grade II listed Sardine Factory is being converted into a museum and restaurant, having secured funding for the work in mid-2017. Twelve 220mm diameter Odex piles were installed into bedrock from within the building along the foot of the wall and cast into a capping beam to support the 7m high granite party wall. This phase of work allows the rest of the demolition phase to continue before Carnon Contracting return to complete the foundation piling and groundworks for the scheme.

In recent weeks, Carnon Contracting have deployed two of their Beretta drill rigs to the new development site in Pool, Camborne where Farm Foods will be located. The work was being carried out for AGS Ground Solutions, with both rigs being used to investigate the general ground conditions on site to build a ground model, as well as some targeted drilling to pinpoint the locations of known mining features.

Recently completed is a mine remediation contract between two residential properties in Falmouth for Kier Living. The properties had reported a problem with settlement in the rear garden and drainage issues. After establishing the extent of the mine feature from site investigation, a ring of 28 190mm dia. Odex piles were installed. Access to the rear of the properties was restricted to a gate, so Carnon Contracting used their Holman’s Mini Rig to complete the piling.

To support the piled wall as the material within the ring was excavated, two reinforced concrete beams were cast in situ. When the feature causing the problem was identified at 4.5m below ground level, it was secured and the hole was then backfilled using suitable material, and landscaping to the gardens and fencing allowed the properties to be reinstated to their former condition.

All site works on this project were carried out by Carnon Contracting. Photos show the excavation and piles, and the finished garden.

In recent months, Carnon Contracting have worked on an exclusive residential property overlooking the Kingsbridge Estuary at Cheesewring in Salcombe. In order to maximise development space on the site, two piled retaining walls were required to stabilise the slope and enable excavation by ensuring the ground was retained. Due to the restricted nature of the site’s location, larger rigs could not be used, so Carnon Contracting’s mini rigs were brought in to install a double line of 240mm diameter Odex piles to form the walls. One of the piled walls was also anchored back with 32mm diameter stainless steel bar anchors, allowing the 5m designed retained height to be achieved.

Click the images to expand.

In recent weeks, Carnon have been installing piles ranging in compression loads from 225kN to 1000kN. The 250mm diameter piles are being installed using Odex drilling techniques to support a new residential development at North Roskear in Camborne. The complex geometry and depth of the vertical and inclined pile network has been necessary due to the proximity of mining features. The deepest pile installed was 30m, and a vacuum excavation system was deployed to keep dust and mining waste fill arisings to a minimum given the congested site and close proximity to residential properties.

On completion of the drilling, the pile reinforcement cages were installed, but given the lack of working space on site, it was necessary to fabricate the cages at Carnon Contracting’s yard at Wheal Jane near Truro and ship them to site as required. The piles were reinforced to full depth with cages and a 50mm diameter central bar to accommodate the tension load required. The cages were installed using an excavator to lower the 6m sections of reinforcement into the pile bore before being spliced and coupled to the next section.

The Wheal Jane Group has appointed Steve Worthington as their new Managing Director of Carnon Contracting and Wheal Jane Consultancy, the Group’s civil engineering and consultancy companies.

Steve, whose family are based in Cornwall, has been working away from the county for the past twelve years and has over 20 years’ experience in the geotechnical contracting sector, spending most of his career with international specialist geotechnical contractor Keller. Steve has been involved in many prestigious and highly complex projects in his career across the UK, most recently the £37.2 million Victoria Station upgrade in London.

Mark Giddings, CEO of the Wheal Jane Group, said;

“Steve brings both valuable expertise and huge experience to help take our contracting company forward.”

Carnon Contracting have been working hard on a scheme in Camborne for Kier Living over the past three months. Carnon have provided a wide range of services, including working alongside its sister company Wheal Jane Consultancy’s team, in the initial stages of identifying and remediating three mineshafts located on site. Once the shafts were located and excavated, they were made secure via designed caps, one of which had to go through an AIP process with Cornwall Council for future adoption as beneath the highway. On completion of securing the shafts, Carnon could then reinstate the site, allowing commencement of the groundworks.

The Carnon groundworks team are currently working their way through the site, even though greenstone (known locally as Blue Elvan) has been encountered in the drainage runs.

Carnon will be working up until Christmas when the team will be taking a well-earned break before returning in the new year refreshed and ready to take on any new challenges 2017 will bring.

A structurally unstable slope posing a risk to adjacent listed residential properties belonging to the National Trust has been successfully stabilised by Carnon Contracting.

The difficult site, requiring crane access, along with the steep nature of the slope required the installation of hand-drilled mini piles and anchors just to enable the construction of an elevated drilling platform.

Once the platform was established, the full stabilisation piles and anchors could be installed.  The 22m-long slope was then completed with a natural Cornish stone faced retaining wall.  The contract in Boscastle was completed on budget for our clients the National Trust.

Working with Kier Construction (main contractors) and Quest Consulting (scheme engineers), Carnon Contracting have completed a piling contract at the Tulip Foods processing facility at Bodmin.

On site testing by Carnon Contracting enabled the design team to optimise the pile design, substantially reducing the number of piles required to meet the engineering specification.

The 200+ piles installed have provided the foundations for the construction of a new bacon processing plant facility for Tulip

Carnon was also able to achieve final sign-off to complete the works by using its own, in-house integrity testing capability.

The contract was completed on time and on budget.

Carnon Contracting is pleased to have successfully completed one of its more fascinating and challenging contracts of the past twelve months. The contract was for piling works in preparation for the construction of new offices and industrial units as part of the Hayle Marine Renewable Park.

The work, carried out for Midas on a lump sum basis, was on the site of an old power station. It came with a number of risks and challenges for Carnon Contracting. These included uncertain and, in the event, difficult ground conditions, various buried obstacles encountered during piling operations, including the items pictured below, and not least of all the winter weather.

All this, on top of the need to see the contract completed on time to set costs, combined with the work itself provided just the sort of challenging contract we relish!