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Ground improvement solution for manufacturing facility
As part of the regeneration of the former Jaguar car plant site in Coventry, a 105,699 sq ft bespoke food manufacturing and distribution facility was built for a major UK logistics provider. The new facility was constructed over a brownfield site with a highly variable thickness of reworked fill material, which contained pockets of buried topsoil
As part of the regeneration of the former Jaguar car plant site in Coventry, a 105,699 sq ft bespoke food manufacturing and distribution facility was built for a major UK logistics provider.
Challenge
The new facility was constructed over a brownfield site with a highly variable thickness of reworked fill material, which contained pockets of buried topsoil. The main challenge was to provide a ground improvement solution which could accommodate high column and floor slab loadings of 4300kN and 55kN/m, while limiting total deflection to 25mm and differential settlement to 1:750.
Solution
Rigid inclusions were selected as the most appropriate foundation solution to meet the specification requirements, while delivering a low vibration cast in-situ method of installation that would avoid the creation of pathways to the underlying Principal Aquifer of the Allesley Member.
The RIs were designed for a bearing capacity of up to 200kN/m2, which enabled the structural engineers to reduce the size of the foundations. This has helped to deliver a sub-structure solution that offers significant overall carbon savings when compared with fully suspended alternatives.
In less than seven weeks, 2000 columns were installed.
