London City Airport Runway on the River Thames

London, UK

KB International was contracted by Cementation Skanska UK to assist with 1200 piles for the London City Airport runway that was built over the River Thames. The piles were 1200mm in diameter and drilled to 28 meters. The ground consisted of dock settlements, river terrace deposits, gravels, Thanet sands and Newhaven Chalk. Permanent casings were pre-installed 1.5 to 2m into the dock bed. The dock water had a huge amount of gasoline contamination that had saturated into the soils thus making it challenging to maintain a good viscosity. KB International refined the mix design to be site-specific to handle all ground and water contamination. The viscosity was kept above 100 seconds throughout the project even when piles were left open for extended periods.

Three barges were used for construction and the piles were left open for up to 5 days without any issues. The SlurryPro CDP system was used along with the EnhancIT 100 and 200. KB International worked closely with Cementation Skanska to be sure that all 1200 piles were constructed without any issues.