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Sheet Piling Project – South Walsham – March 2023

Our client’s existing piling was coming to the end of its life and we were approached to offer various piling material solutions to make its renewal more durable. The customer chose our galvanised L8 sheet pile option with hardwood capping.

Project details;

To replace 103 metres of failed softwood piling with Galvanised L8 sheet piles, lower galvanised steel equal angle rail and FSC Certified Ekki capping. Piling and capping half at a time so the moorings on one side could still be used.

Resolution;

Although overall site access was excellent, working access for installing the sheet piles down one side was poor. The decision was made to pile it exclusively from the water. For this we once again utilised modular Nato pontoons, allowing enough working area for a 9 tonne excavator and enough sheet piles to complete an entire side of the moorings. Once piling was completed we commenced installation of our lower galvanised equal angle rail. Although a time consuming and somewhat laborious process, many years of re-capping steel piling has shown that generally thinner steel sheet piling in freshwater will rot at the top and edges before failing at the water line. Bolting a galvanised lower rail, allows all the sheets to be fastened together away from the piles edges, allows a lower starting point for anchoring rods and facilitates future capping replacement. In this instance the FSC Certified Ekki capping should last at least the life of the piles, however should it require replacement, it can simply be unbolted without fear of the piling moving.  We then repeated the process for the other side, backfilled, grass seeded and hoped the sun would shine. 

With 15 years of Marine and Civil engineering experience, we are always looking to past projects to suggest better construction methods for the future. Thanks to the lower galvanised equal angle rail and Ekki capping, the customer will receive the longest possible life from the sheet piles we installed.