Watch how one of Britain’s highest concrete pours meant 10.4m-high walls were completed in double-quick time
Contractor Bouygues has just completed one of the highest concrete pours done in this country. It has used the technique to build the 10.4m high sports hall walls at a BSF school it is constructing in London’s Pimlico.
The school is being constructed in phases which means parts of it are occupied while Bouygues is at work. The new sports hall is just one metre away from occupied classrooms one side, and is hard up against the school boundary on the other plus the whole school sits in a hollowed out bowl.
Over the road is Dolphin Court, a large residential scheme full of MP’s and lawyers who would be very quick to complain if there was too much building noise.
Pouring the concrete for the full-height walls is much quicker than doing it traditionally with two or three lifts. It has taken 22 days to build the walls which Bouygues says is twice as fast as normal. It also means less noise as there is less need to move the shuttering from one section to another.
The build process is very simple; the shuttering consists of standard sized sections fixed together. It is craned into position, ties are threaded through to hold the shuttering together under the pressure of the concrete.
The mix design is critical to ensure it fills the deep shuttering but it is poured and vibrated conventionally. One the shuttering is moved to the next section the walls are temporarily propped. Now the walls are finished work will start on the roof steelwork.
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