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Ivor King - The Piling People

Lady’s Walk, Morpeth: Riverbank Restoration

Installation of a sheet pile retaining wall for repairs to a subsided river bank to enable reinstatement of public footpath

By: Ivor King The Piling People

Published: December 11, 2018

Lady's Walk River bank Restoration - Courtesy of Ivor King - The Piling People

When you’re installing sheet piles at the end of a residential cul-de-sac, next to an adjacent river, your installation method needs to be silent, vibration-free and environmentally friendly. Add hard ground conditions into the mix and you’re going to need our Giken Supercrush solution.

Lady’s Walk is a picturesque footpath on the bank of the River Wansbeck in Northumberland, connecting Morpeth town centre with the nearby village of Mitford. During the rainy Easter weekend 2018, 35m of river retaining wall and footpath subsided and fell into the river.Northumberland County Council engaged the services of Ivor King to install a sheet piled retaining wall in to order to stabilise the land, enabling necessary repairs to be carried out and ultimately for the public footpath to be reinstated.

Challenges & Solutions

Hard ground conditions, environmental issues and extremely restricted access made this project particularly complex; site access was via a 3.2m wide residential cul-de-sac, with neighbouring properties within close proximity and an environmentally sensitive riverside location.

Using Giken Supercrush technology, we were able to overcome hard ground conditions, whilst pressing-in piles using silent vibration-free methodology. This ensured minimal impact to residents in neighbouring properties as well as protecting local flora and fauna in and around the adjacent river.

(Note: in the video below, pay special attention to the group of ducklings swimming past undisturbed, oblivious to the installation, proving our Giken solution really is silent and vibration-free!)

Riverbank sheet piling to enable reinstatement of public footpath – Courtesy of Ivor King – The Piling People

Furthermore, the expertise of our in-house transport team was called upon, with all deliveries were meticulously planned and executed by Ivor King Transport into a site where access was extremely tight and barely wide enough to accommodate an articulated lorry.

Once our sheet pile retaining wall installation was complete, repairs could take place to the the riverside path with eventual reinstatement and reopening of this popular walking route in Northumbria.

Location: Lady’s Walk, Morpeth
Client: Northumbrian County Council
Project cost: c. £269k
Completion date: November 2018
Project period: 8 weeks
Plant utilised:
- Giken Supercrush Silent Piler
- JCB JS360 Excavator with Side Grip Movax Attachment
- Marchetti Crawler Crane

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