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SCREWFAST SAVES WINSTER SUBSTATION
On Thursday 13th October 2011 at 10.30 am, ScrewFast were contacted by Siemens reporting an explosion at Winster Substation, Derby and an immediate requirement for a foundation to be installed to help with the repair of the site. ScrewFast dispatched its SI team to Derby to carry out probes and by 4.30pm the same day the results were provided to ScrewFast design team.
Having analysed the data and quickly provided a design, a helical piled solution was assembled from stock consisting of 10No. piles to 5m.
At 5pm ScrewFast PM received a confirmation to proceed and install the following morning, and the site team was duly organised.
Materials and excavator and delivered to site by 8.30am on Friday 14th October, and the Solution was installed that day.
ScrewFast purchase the largest torque head in the UK
ScrewFast Foundations recently purchased from the US the biggest torque head imported into the UK, capable of 175-200kNm of installation torque. ScrewFast’s design team leader suggested ‘this equipment dramatically increases our potential to install large piles for even bigger compressive, tensile and lateral capacities’. Piles for loads of up to 3000kN ULS in compression and 2400kN ULS in tension are achievable on a single pile.
We hope to compete with traditional piling techniques by drastically reducing construction time in the civil and energy sectors as well as being used in our more traditional markets like Highways. The technical department are also developing an even bigger torque head (250kNm) to provide backup to this head which should be in operation by the end of 2011. ScrewFast remain the leaders in innovation and development of helical piling in the UK.
Please contact the ScrewFast technical or design departments for more details.
ScrewFast Install Screw Pile Foundations for Henham Bridge
ScrewFast Foundations have completed the design supply and installation of Henham Bridge, including the foundations and the structure itself. The project took just over 3 weeks to complete, ready in time for the Latitude Festival.
The piles were installed from an excavator on a floating jetty positioned alongside the bridge location. Steel girders were then laid in place, and wooden beams placed perpendicular to the gurders to provide strength.
View the BBC report on the project via the link below.
SCREWFAST INSTALLS 18304 PILES FOR 5MW CSP SITE IN ECIJA SPAIN
Early in 2010 ScrewFast Foundations was contacted by Abengoa Solar from Spain to design and install foundations for a 50MW CSP (concentrated solar power) plant in Ecija. This project is a trough design using parabolic mirrors to reflect the sun onto a tube containing HTF (Heat Transfer Fluid) suspended along the focal point of the troughs.
The HTF, heated by the sun to over 500C, is used to produce super heated steam which turns a conventional steam turbine.
Around 1000 tonnes of tubular steel was used for nearly 18500 piles and installed in just 8 weeks. ScrewFast designed and built special rigs to drive the piles to an average depth of four meters.
CSP can be a more efficient solar energy system than PV (Photovoltaic) as the heat can be stored and used continuously by melting salt in a thermally insulated silo which then converts water to steam through a heat exchanger.
On some CSP projects the sun is focussed by arrays of pedestal mounted mirrors onto a central element which produces very high temperature steam for turbines as in a conventional power plant.
ScrewFast is now embarking upon a number of PV projects in the UK which will supply electricity into the National Grid. Other Solar Power projects are being tendered for in Southern European locations.
Solar Energy is without doubt, one of the biggest market sectors to emerge from the green revolution. ScrewFast Foundations Ltd has been serving this sector since early 2007 in Spain and more recently in France.
Our engineers have gained considerable experience with Solar Power and are working tirelessly with solar plant designers to create more efficient ways of harnessing energy from the most powerful and direct source we have at our disposal. The sun!
BIRMINGHAM BOX MANAGED MOTORWAYS SCHEME
ScrewFast Foundations has recently completed works on the Birmingham Box Managed Motorways project for Carillion on behalf of the Highways Agency.
Screwfast was contracted to design, supply and install 41 foundations for super span (full motorway) Gantry Structures, Cantilever ADS signs and MS3 signs.
The BBMM project required bespoke designed platforms to take both the structure and the equipment cabinets, with minimal earthwork. ScrewFasts’ considerable knowledge of soils, structural steels and the working environment was essential to ensure that each foundation met the needs of the client.
By working with the existing topography, combined with their innovative steel foundations, ScrewFast was able to minimise the need for piling platforms, excavation, retaining walls and concrete. The construction time per structure was reduced to as little as 3 – 7 shifts, with the top structure loaded on the final shift.
ScrewFast piles are generally much shorter than traditional bored piles installed in the same ground conditions. There is a significant reduction in temporary works. The installation was carried out from the existing hard shoulder verge using much smaller plant than would normally be needed. There was minimal disruption to other road construction and to the road user due to much shorter installation time required. There was also a great H&S advantage as the installers were exposed to live traffic for up to 70% less time.
SCREWFAST STEEL PILES FOR BLACKPOOL STREET LIGHTING
The idea of a 21st-century son et lumiere came from Blackpool Illuminations concept designer Greg McLenahan of Worldwide Lighting Design. The design was developed by BDP Lighting which liaised with manufacturer DW Windsor and principal contractor J McCann to make the vision a reality.
Originating from the idea of a continuous ribbon spiralling in and out of the ground, the arches have a tubular steel skeleton covered by marine-grade aluminium. They are 9m high with a foot length of 18.7m and weigh more than eight tonnes. Each has three Robe ColorSpot 2500E AT moving-head projectors, two 200W ChromaFloods from Pulsar, as well as iColor Flex SL LED chains from Philips Color Kinetics integrated into the underside, providing a colour-chase sequence during the shows and static coloured light in between.
A bespoke suspended trunking and street lighting system, spans the tops of the arches. The solution simultaneously solved the problem of getting the power and control cabling the length of the street to each of the arches (the street was believed to sit on a concrete raft which meant that trenches could not be dug. Instead ScrewFast piles were installed through holes drilled through the concrete slabs) The whole system uses just 630W, 60 per cent less than the energy previously used.
While the main focus is on Birley Street itself, the three streets either side provide a flavour of the event with gobo projections.
