Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd has launched a new division, Excavation Support Solutions, to enhance the operational efficiencies, project delivery and health and safety compliance, of small and medium-sized earthwork support projects.
Excavation Support Solutions (ESS) is a stand-alone trading division of Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd, wholly focused on providing a one-stop solution for contractors requiring temporary earthworks, wherever they operate across the UK.
ESS tackles all of the drawbacks and frustrations associated with the hiring of excavation support equipment. Rather than having to source separate packages for design works, material and equipment hire, followed by undertaking the site works themselves with operatives unfamiliar with the latest best practice techniques, contractors can now ask ESS to provide a turnkey solution. This encompasses design, project management, pre-construction activities, installation and extraction of light to heavy-duty sheet piles, as well as associated bracing works.
With all operations handled from under one roof, construction and communication issues at the logistical on-site interface are reduced, enabling projects to run more smoothly and with more likelihood of being delivered on time and to budget.
Additionally, the health and safety compliance burden is lessened, with ESS’s trained operatives providing specialist expertise in this regard, rather than a contractor having to take on board risk management themselves or trust a smaller, less-qualified installer.
With health and safety regulation having been significantly tightened since fines became based on turnover and levied even if there is a likelihood of an accident, rather than an actual incident, its pays for smaller projects to use ESS experts and reduce risks and exposures.
Well-installed temporary works, structures and excavation supports make it safer for site workers to safely enter and exit the excavation, whilst not having to incur costs when writing-off hired-in materials on completion, assists with the project’s financials.
Additionally, the temporary works design is undertaken by competent and qualified in-house design engineers, thus ensuring compliance with statutory legislation in respect of management of temporary works procedures and the CDM Regulations 2015.
From a quality control perspective, all steel sheet piles and structural steelwork are supplied with relevant Mill Test Certificates (MTC) and CE marking (where applicable), thus ensuring an additional layer of quality control and health & safety protection can be put in place.
ESS is braced to assist with groundwork structures including temporary cofferdams, trench support and sheet piling for both temporary and permanent excavation support.
“We can basically supply and install any excavation bracing system, using either fabricated structural steelwork, or proprietary hydraulic bracing systems,” says Richard Pattison, who is now heading up Sheet Piling (UK) Limited’s new ESS division.
“We deliver services in one attractive, easy-to-access package, providing clients with unique, hassle-free, timely and safe solutions, no matter what their excavation support needs. Works are fully compliant with the CPA ‘Good Practice Guide for the Management of Shoring Excavations’ and HSE Guidelines for excavation support and temporary works’ design.”
SPUK’s managing director, Andrew Cotton, says: “SPUK has been associated with larger sheet piling projects for more than two decades and is now channelling its expertise to bring its same core values and ways of working to small and medium-sized projects. We have identified a gap in the market, which ESS can fill, and believe we have an irresistible proposition for SME contractors.”
