Removal of Existing Piles

In our major conurbations most sites have been developed previously by man. Hence the redevelopment of these urban areas will find a legacy of old foundations and archaeology. This legacy may compromise the architectural or structural intent of the new development, or can make it uneconomic.

For a redevelopment on a site which has been previously piled, traditionally one was forced to only locate new piles within the zones of ground that hadn’t been piled before. This was likely to mean that pile positions did not correlate to preferred column positions resulting in an inefficient structural design.

Piles up to 600mm diameter and up to 26m in length have successfully been removed by BBGE. A variety of techniques can be used dependent upon the pile dimensions, the ground conditions and the environmental constraints. Once the existing pile is removed, the bore is backfilled to permit construction of the new pile. Similarly BBGE has cored through existing brick and concrete foundations at pile positions so that they do not have to be removed using excavation methods.

The removal of existing piles can provide a sustainable and economic solution for new developments on urban projects.