Bell Farm

On behalf of Winvic, one of the UK’s leading ‘shed specialists’, Aarsleff Ground Engineering were awarded the piling contract for Bell Farm, part of the construction for a new 40-acre logistics park in Bedford.

Having commenced on the 19th October, the piling work followed a 6-week programme whereby Aarsleff installed 329.4 l/m of driven steel sheet piles: a key geotechnical feature for the Bedford Link Logistics Park.

The greenfield site is approximately 4.5km southwest of Bedford Town with a farmhouse and associated outbuildings located to the north west of the site.

The southern east of the site is bordered by A4280. Specifically, Aarsleff Ground Engineering installed 329.4 l/m of AZ12-770 (section modulus of 1245cm3/m) and AZ17-700 (section modulus of 1730cm3/m) steel sheet sections along the western boundary

of the site which was complemented with pre-boringand folded steel capping beam to assist a max RH of <3.6m.

Aarsleff Ground Engineering carried out a detailed assessment with care, skill, and diligence to ensure that a final workable product was fabricated that considered the varying ground stratigraphy.

Aarsleff’s design strategically produced 5 sections which accompanied and suited the true ground conditions by defining each section with its own personalised steel section size and length.

Aarsleff employed pre-boring of the pile positions to loosen the surrounding ground to ensure the design toe depth was achieved and to gather observations pertaining to ground conditions.

Aarsleff deployed 5 machines to ensure the piling programme was met without any delays using a Hitachi excavator to offload

the steel sheet sections, their Soiltek drilling rig to conduct preboring, a Sennebogen crane to handle and pitch the piles and a leader rig to install and back install the steel sheet sections using driving vibratory hammer.

Aarsleff’s work is a fundamental component of commercial building projects throughout the UK, having provided the foundations and geotechnical solutions for many schemes including mega-retail sheds, distribution warehouses, University accommodationand major supermarket and household name units.