The Leadworks, Chester

Piling Rig

Starting back in June '03, we moved onto a disused leadworks factory in the intention of constructing the foundations and for several luxury apartment blocks. The original factory buildings were removed by a specialist demolition company to give us a clear space to complete our work.

Following the building demolition phase, rubble and any existing landscaping had to be removed and leveled, a new road and drainage system was laid to allow access to the site. Due to the poor nature of the ground all of the new buildings required pile foundations to be installed, this again was carried out by a specialist company. On one side of the site was adjacent to the Shropshire Union Canal, to prevent any water seeping into the lower levels of the new buildings a continuous pile wall was driven along the buildings length on the side of the canal.

With the piling complete the ground was then reduced to allow for pile caps to be cast and the basement car park floor could be poured. Along with the basement floor slab columns were erected to be ready for the suspended concrete ground floor to sit on. Just before the Christmas break the first section of suspended slab was poured, as usual the day we pour large quantities of concrete it rained and rather heavily.

Getting straight back into the work spirit after the break we soon had the second section of suspended slab sections poured and by the end of February the block was complete (except some minor snagging and drainage work). While most of the work was concentrated upon the main block, we also constructed several smaller house plots and finish the road.

With the first of the main blocks completed work moved swiftly on to the larger second block. Using the same process as the first block, the basement floor and columns were built upon piles and made as water tight as possible to prevent an water entering the lower levels. Work on the second block can be seen in the image below, showing the exterior retaining walls being poured and most of the supporting columns already constructed. The suspended ground floor slab took some time to construct as it contained many openings for services and also had changes in levels to define the outside of the building being placed upon it. When I left this project the second block was approximately fifty percent complete.

Following a return visit to this project all works had been completed and finishing works had began to bring the construction site up to the final standards required to hand it over to the residents. During my visit I had time to take a look around the completed car park basement of the second block, which you can see in the Quicktime movie below.

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MOV Icon 360 degree view of finished structure as seen in photo above [1.95MB Quicktime]