Alterations to Marine Building
Harfreys Industrial Estate, Great Yarmouth
Technicus Consulting was appointed by ASAMS Ltd in Great Yarmouth to undertake an assessment of the existing floor slab within their offices with a view to moving several items of very heavy highly calibrated precision metallurgical testing machinery into this space.
Limited drawings were available for the structure however based on the poor ground conditions and local knowledge it was assumed that pile and ground beam foundations were used for this building.
Trials holes through the slab showed it to be 250mm thick with a 50mm screed. Mild steel reinforcing mesh was present in the lower face however, the slab was of poor quality likely due to over compaction.
Load assessments on the slab showed that even with modern high yield reinforcement and favourable foundation positions the slab was not capable of supporting the proposed machinery.
The client had been advised that grout injection could provide the slab capacity required however there was little cost certainty due to the unknown quantities required in poor ground. Technicus proposed bespoke machine bases built off mini-piles installed through the slab.
This scheme was adopted and the piles and bases were installed with minimal disruption to the building operation and within the proposed budget.
