Mini Piling
The process of mini piling consists of the pile being driven by an internal drop hammer. A wooden pile tip is fitted to a steel casing which contains a long concrete plug. The casing can be rather tenuous as there will only be tension forces that occur when driving the mini pile. The pile is driven to a specified depth at which point the steel casing is filled with concrete and then is installed with reinforcement. When this has been completed the casing is then extracted from the ground.
There are different ways of driving mini piles into the ground. One such way is using an explosive pile. The explosive charge is put into the casing at the bottom once it has reached the required depth. As the casing is removed the charge is detonated, increasing the size of the pile base. The benefit of this is that the bearing capacity is increased when the soil becomes greatly compacted by the force of the explosion. However, this is not always an ideal technique to use as soil compression and displacement is not always easy to predict.
Economic Recovery having positive effect on Construction Companies
Now that the economic situation in the UK is beginning to improve, construction companies are already seeing the benefits. Many businesses were being forced into insolvency but now the numbers have begun to drop. In the third quarter of last year 16% which is more than any other business sector. However this number is 18% lower than the previous quarter and 29% less than it was during the same time period last year.
It is not all good news however, as the Government’s plans to make heavy cuts on the public sector which will have major effects on many businesses. The construction industry will as suffer as a high proportion of contracts come from this area of business.
Improvements in property development have also fallen rapidly but it has been reported that this is due to support from banks and investors rather than the upswing of the real estate industry. Property values have not increased but actually declined, particularly in the case of secondary properties.