CPA Bulletin

www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > August 2021 25 Luxury Development Gets Support fromGroundforce Constructing a three-level basement on the Bayswater Road in central London is not a job to be undertaken lightly and for that reason, specialist groundworks and concrete frame contractor Modebest knew it needed an effective temporary works support solution. Modebest is constructing the basement for Park Modern, a new £450 million residential development with views over Kensington Gardens. The development, by main contractor Ant Yapi UK for developer Fenton Whelan, will deliver over 57 luxury apartments plus 30,000sq ft of commercial space. Located on a site bordered by Bayswater Road, Queensway and Inverness Terrace, the development is surrounded by busy roads and adjoining buildings. London Underground’s Central Line also passes under the Bayswater Road, parallel to the excavation’s southern retaining wall. Support for the excavation, which measures 65m x 25m x 15m deep, is provided by more than 30 of Groundforce Shorco’s modular hydraulic props. The props, which include some of the company’s heaviest MP750 units, are braced against a waling beam comprising Super Mega Brace units to support the secant piled retaining wall. The project is notable not only for the scale of the temporary support equipment deployed, but also for its exacting technical requirements. “The job involves high loads and has very onerous deflection criteria,” explains Mark Whitmore, General Manager (Major Projects) with Groundforce. “To keep prop count to a minimum the highest capacity props on the market were needed.” Due to the close proximity of occupied buildings and a live underground tunnel, ground movement had to be limited to the absolute minimum and constantly monitored. NEWS FROMCPA MEMBERS: 3 Testing in Extreme Conditions Moving a large mass of material quickly, reliably and safely usually requires the use of hydraulic excavators, mining trucks and material-handling machines at construction sites, scrapyards or ports. However, to ensure that they function reliably and withstand extreme conditions in the long term, Liebherr tests the load-carrying capacity and service life of its machines and components very precisely. “In our load tests, we subject assemblies, such as a hydraulically adjustable boom, to the load an excavator normally experiences over its entire life in just a few weeks,” says Nils Dippon, a test engineer at Liebherr’s development and demonstration centre. For the complex series of structural tests in the modern test stand in Kirchheim, Germany, Liebherr relies on the U10M and S9M force sensors and strain gauges from Hottinger Brüel & Kjaer. The U10M sensors measure the forces produced and compensate for bending moments in doing so while the strain gauges from HBK simultaneously measure the strain on the components. “Our U10M series force transducers achieve very high precision over a wide measuring range. They provide high-resolution measurement data for the various measurement setups at Liebherr and offer maximum flexibility. Our high-quality strain-gauge technology also accurately acquires minimal component deformations to provide a comprehensive data basis for further development,” explains Thomas Kleckers, the product manager for force sensors at HBK.