King Street, Newcastle

The Heavies were contracted by Hunter Group to complete the shoring piles and the reinforced concrete foundation piles for the new serviced apartments on King Street, Newcastle.

The scope:

• 14no. 600mm diameter reinforced concrete contiguous wall piles to 7m depth to shore along the boundary and prevent undermining the older neighbouring structures
• 12no. 600mm diameter CFA reinforced concrete foundation piles to 9m depth
• sheet piling

The challenge:

As part of an adaptive reuse of an existing carpark structure, the decent volume of piles were necessary to provide support to a new lift core subject to Newcastle's earthquake loading requirements. Only the old lift core was demolished, and the rest of the existing structure was to be retained for use in the new design.

During the drilling for both of these, multiple underground obstacles were encountered such as old concrete and brick footings which complicated the drilling. Tight access also made drilling more difficult as access to some locations was restricted due to overhead slabs, plumbing and general services.

The Heavies:

In a cooperative approach with Hunter Group's experienced site team, our Heavies crew was able to work with our tight access gear safely and effectively in the small space, installing the required design as planned.