The awards which are organized by NCE and supported by the International Tunneling & Underground Space Association, are designed to recognize overall excellence in the delivery of international tunneling and underground space projects.
The two companies submitted a joint entry showcasing a ground breaking, temporary propping solution incorporating a novel high preloading mechanism, specifically designed for Crossrail’s Paddington Station Box - a 263m long, 22m wide and 20m deep, reinforced concrete box structure, which involved a huge top down construction excavation to within 100mm of a live tunnel.
To achieve the contract requirement of inducing pre-loads in excess of 420 tonnes into each prop, CSJV and Groundforce, working together over a period of six months developed removable auxiliary hydraulic pre-stressing units (APU’s) and special pumping equipment for Groundforce’s MP500 modular props.. The high pre-loading requirement was required to ensure that critical deflection limits of the diaphragm wall were not exceeded during construction.
Tony Gould, Technical Director for Groundforce said: “We are proud to be nominated for our joint submission with Costain Skanska JV (CSJV) and be recognised for all the hard work carried out by our Major Projects Team, on what was an extremely complex and involving project. The success of this solution was achieved through an excellent close working relationship with all parties involving a high level of site support to oversee the critical installation and removal techniques We were consequently able to deliver a propping solution that as well as meeting all technical and safety requirements, delivered both on time and within budget.
We are now looking forward to attending the Gala event in December, where we will be hoping to bring home another award.”