Ground engineering and geotechnical contractor Van Elle has started installing piles up to 33m deep on the third phase of Canary Wharf’s new Wood Wharf development.

Wood Wharf, a mixed-use development located on a 9ha site in Canary Wharf in London, will provide up to 3,600 new homes, almost 200,000m3 of office space and 32,516m3 of retail space.

Working for Canary Wharf Contractors, Van Elle has begun installing deep foundations for four mixed-use 38-storey buildings to house commercial and residential properties for the third phase of the development.

It is currently installing 351 piles 900mm in diameter and 135 piles 1,050mm in diameter to depths of up to 33m - the deepest and largest continuous flight auger (CFA) piles ever installed at Canary Wharf, according to Van Elle.

Two of Van Elle’s Llamada P160 rigs will install the piles during a 13-week programme.

For early works Van Elle used two SR75 rotary coring rigs to core through 177 obstructions, including the old dock wall and the dock slab, in four weeks.

To reduce ground movement and vibration, 18 piles required temporary casing up to 11m. This process protected the dock wall which is holding back the River Thames.

Van Elle piling director Malcolm O’Sullivan said: “We were really pleased to have been invited back to continue delivering foundations, right in the heart of London’s docklands.”

For the second phase of piling on the development, which was completed in 2021, Van Elle reduced the diameter of many of the piles it installed from 900mm diameter to 750mm diameter.

It also used its Llamada P160 CFA piling rig to install piles more than 30m deep without the use of a kelly bar while navigating two live Jubilee Line tunnels.

For this value engineered solution Van Elle was shortlisted for a 2021 GE Award.

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