The key to unlocking development above London’s Moorgate station lies 50m below ground in the Thanet Sands. It is this 58 million-year-old geological formation of fine-grained grey-brown sand that engineer Robert Bird Group (RBG) has exploited to support some of the highest-loaded piles ever to have been sunk in the City of London.

These super-piles are what has made development of Land Securities’ 21 Moorfields possible. More significantly, the increased load supported by each pile has the potential to open up similarly challenging sites in the City by enabling developers to build higher and span wider than ever before.

The piles were developed by RBG as a solution to the challenge of creating a 60,000m² air rights development above the tracks of the station’s three pairs of railway lines: the Circle and Metropolitan, London Underground sidings and City Thameslink sidings. In addition, there are two Crossrail tunnels passing beneath the site, 25m below the station, while a new Crossrail ticket hall is nearing completion at the site’s western perimeter. 

…