Piling contractor Aarsleff has installed a whopping 4,000 precast concrete piles over the past four years at Cardiff’s £75m Capital Business Park.

The reason is that developer JR Smart sublets entire specialist contracts on negotiated fixed price terms rather than going out to tender.

‘I prefer to have people on my site who I can trust,’ says JR Smart chairman John Smart (pictured right). ‘You can go out to tender and get something very cheap and you end up with a lot of problems. I don’t want to be messing around with claims. If there’s a problem I want someone I know I can deal with.’

Aarsleff first worked for Smart 10 years ago on a project at Spring Meadow, Cardiff.

Smart says he pays all subcontracts within seven days and without any retentions. ‘We play fair with them and they play fair with us.’

The lastest phase of the park involves the erection of steel portal framed industrial units. Aarsleff installed 250mm and 200mm square section Centrum continuously reinforced piles, in lengths varying between eight and 16 metres.

The larger section piles support a ring beam around the buildings’ perimeters while the smaller piles will support a cast in-situ concrete floor.

Around 30,000m2 of industrial space is already complete or under construction. The 75 acre site will have 100,000m2 of development when finished.

Source

Construction Manager