| Latest News 2007 (12 September) |
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| Three different Phi Group solutions for Tesco in Maesteg |
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| A new 48,600 feet2 Tesco supermarket is under construction on the edge of Maesteg. |
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| The project required a cut and fill exercise to maximise the amount of developable area, and from an early stage in the project Phi Group assisted site developers Morbaine Limited with the design of the retaining structures to achieve this. |
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| Soil Panel |
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| Consequently Phi’s proposals were incorporated within the Main Contract Tender package. The successful Contractor, Britannia Construction, then instructed Phi Group, to undertake the design, supply and construction of three different retaining walls. |
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| Soil Nailing with Permacrib facing |
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| Firstly, the Client needed to widen the crest of an existing embankment in order to accommodate an adoptable footpath and cycleway. Phi Group proposed the use of their Soil Panel RS system at a 60º profile which utilises reinforced soil techniques for stability and encapsulates a 250mm thick layer of topsoil to provide a sustainable, low maintenance vegetative cover similar to the original embankment. |
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| Secondly, the development required a new entrance to be constructed from Castle Street, however, there was a 10.0m level difference between the street and the development platform level. The new entrance road needed to cross a river and existing 30 º slope before rising up to the development level. There were two requirements for retaining structures here. One was required to retain the existing ground and proposed car park above which needed to be up to 9.0m high and a second much smaller structure to support the entrance road itself where the existing slope dropped away which would require making up the ground levels to form the road edge. |
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| To support the car park Phi Group were mindful of the stability of the temporary earthworks profile during wall construction and also the size of Permacrib structure required to sustain the applied loading. |
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| Consequently, they proposed the use of their Permacrib/Soil Nailed System. This system combines the top down soil nailing technique to support the excavated face thereby providing a secure temporary earthworks profile both in the short and long term. The soil nails were installed from the top downwards against a 70º cutting and the Permacrib from the bottom upwards at a face batter of 4V:1H with the soil nails extended to interlock with the Permacrib to form the long term permanent works. For retained heights up to 4.0m Phi Group proposed the use of their Permacrib System constructed at a 4V:1H batter and designed as a gravity retaining wall. Cost savings were made by using Permacrib as a gravity wall at the lower heights where soul nailing was unnecessary. |
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| Soil Nailing with Permacrib facing |
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| For the third structure the existing ground levels needed to be built up to the proposed finished road profile with fill material. Phi Group, therefore, proposed the use of their pre-cast concrete Titan Modular Block System incorporating soil reinforcement to form the reinforced soil mass. The maximum height of this wall was 2.5m and approximately 25metres long. |
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| Speed of installation was also a factor as all Phi’s solutions could be installed in only 15 weeks. Phi Group is expected to complete the walls in September, within budget and on programme. The Main Contract is expected to be finished during November allowing Tesco to undertake the fit out for the store which is to open before Christmas. |
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