Groundworks Win For Geofirma

Geofirma Soils Engineering Ltd is employing its leading edge soil stabilisation techniques to enable a 34 million pound retail development to be built in Gloucester.

Gloucester (I-Newswire) February 26, 2013 - The scheme centres on the construction of a WM Morrison’s supermarket on an old railway site that has been derelict for 30 years.

Essex-based Geofirma has been brought in to stabilise the soil on the 25,000 sqm site which is being developed by local contractor Barnwood Construction.

Soil samples have been taken from the site and analysed at Geofirma’s in-house UKAS-approved laboratories, enabling the development of a bespoke lime and cement stabilisation mix which will be introduced to the soil via the company’s Firmafil and Firmabase techniques.

This process will bring the soil up to the strength and stability required for structural fill and capping/sub-base layers, eliminating the need to import good fill and dramatically reducing the requirements for stone.

On-site soil stabilisation has changed the face of site preparation throughout the building and civil engineering industries. It is a quicker and more cost effective method than traditional techniques based on the disposal and import of materials to make a construction site fit for purpose.

Steve Dunn, Geofirma’s general manager said: “Our assessments showed that this site was ideal for on-site soil stabilisation which is very much our field of expertise.

“In addition to being a quicker and cheaper method, this route also has environmental benefits by reducing the amount of materials going to landfill and the number of truck movements to and from the site.”

Geofirma has deployed a team of eight to the £250,000 Gloucester project and is using its extensive fleet of soil engineering equipment to ensure the stabilisation works are delivered in just eight weeks.

This includes the use of a Wirtgen W2500R with integrated spreading hoppers to ensure the creation of dust is kept to a minimum as the supermarket site is close to operational rail and road.
Barnwood Construction’s contracts manager Adam Welland added: “We have been very pleased with the ground engineering solution Geofirma has developed for us on this site and I am even more pleased that they have worked with my site team to complete the ground engineering in such a manner that has allowed other trades to progress on site despite the poor weather which has been of tremendous benefit given the restricted timescales of the overall project programme.”