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M
ain contractor, McAleer & Rushe, is
building a new £50 million four-star
establishment – with a second, three-
star, hotel next door.
The town-centre project, at Terrace Mount, oc-
cupies a sloping site that was formerly a car-park.
The two hotels are arranged in a loose L-shape and,
because of the gradient, the ground floors are on
different levels.
Construction of the foundations required a com-
plex excavation with sides varying in depth from
zero to 15 m.
The loose, sandy soil meant that considerable
mechanical support was required for the contigu-
ous piled retaining walls, until the basement slabs
and permanent concrete supports had been con-
structed.
Groundforce won the contract to supply struc-
tural support to a design by engineer Ian Black Con-
sulting. The equipment comprised 17 of the com-
pany’s modular hydraulic props in capacities from
80 to 250 tonnes.
The largest prop was an MP250 unit equipped
with 1200 mm diameter Super-Tube extensions
used to span 27 m.
Proprietary hydraulic props are usually used to
provide lateral support across an excavation from
side-to-side. However, due to the changes in ground
level on this site, only five of the props were used in
the conventional way.
Groundforce Prop Up
New Hotel Complex
The ability to value-engineer solutions on a complex excavation
resulted in Groundforce being chosen to provide its modular
hydraulic propping equipment during the early stages of a major
hotel development in Bournemouth.
The equipment comprised 17 of Groundforce modular
hydraulic props in capacities from 80 to 250 tonnes
Page 13
Contractors World UK & Ireland Vol 4 No 4