A safe and innovative solution to tackle a collapsed trench system.
A safe and innovative solution to tackle a collapsed trench system.
The Naval Base at Portsmouth dates back to 1194. Today, it is home to nearly two-thirds of the Royal Navy’s surface fleet as well as hundreds of serving military personnel who reside on base in Naval lodgings. In late 2020, a trench had collapsed in the Naval Base’s car park, which was compromising the structural integrity of the site and the steam pipes which ran beneath the car park’s surface. We were brought in to complete the necessary structural works needed to stabilise the underground trench system and make the car park operational again. Working within a strict three-month timeframe, we removed the collapsed section of the trench wall, adding in metal rebar and timber shuttering. As the steam pipes power the base’s heating they had to remain on at all times. This meant they were red hot to the touch, so we fabricated a reinforced platform above the pipes to ensure we could work safely.
Once the structural elements were in place, concrete was poured in to reinforce the walls. We then laid removable Fibrelight covers at the top of the trench system as an efficient upgrade to the old steel covers. This would allow the covers to be removed by hand in future. To complete the job, we levelled and resurfaced the car park using tarmac. Without any disruption to the Naval Base’s steam-powered heating system we were able to safely reinforce the trench and improve its design to make it more user-friendly, while ultimately restoring the car park back to full operational use.
• Metal fabrication/steelworks
• Technical concrete cutting
• Formwork/timber shuttering
• Resurfacing/tarmacking
