Birse Civils keeps it simple with Groundforce

Specialist equipment rental group Groundforce is helping civil engineering company Birse Civils part of the Balfour Beatty group, tackle a challenging project at one of the busiest motorway junctions on the M62.

Birse Civils is using a unique rolling-strut trench box system that can support trench widths of up to 6.6m and, more importantly, provides a vertical strut clearance of up to 3.1m which enables the installation of large diameter pipes or culverts.

The project is part of the Area 12 framework contract awarded to Birse Civils in 2004 which is set to improve the M62 motorway in West Yorkshire by enhancing safety and driver information. It also involves extensive drainage and landscaping and the installation of a water attenuation system to a depth of 6.8m.

“The space required to implement the water attenuation system meant an ordinary trench box system wouldn’t provide sufficient clearance,” says Chris Davis, at Birse Civils. “We needed a specialised piece of kit that only Groundforce could provide. The advice and guidance we received simplified a potentially difficult project.”

As well as providing the rolling-strut trench box system, Groundforce also supplied a MS4 piling hammer and sheet piles through its sister company Piletec, the market leader in piling and foundation equipment. “The different equipment Groundforce and Piletec were able to offer meant we had just one supplier, which made life a lot easier,” says Davies.