Main contractor Kier North West is building the new Waitrose store on a congested site in the centre of the town. In fact, the site is so short of space that the original design left no room for delivery lorries to turn round in the yard behind the building.
Two solutions to this problem were suggested to the client. The first was to reduce the floorspace of the new store to allow more space in the yard – a proposal which would have compromised the store’s commercial viability. The second proposal was to build a turntable in the yard so that lorries could be turned through 180 degrees on their own axis and then driven straight out the same way they drove in.
Construction of the turntable involved building a circular concrete wall approximately 15 m in diameter and 400 mm thick to support the steel track upon which the turntable revolves.
In its search for a suitable formwork solution, Concrete contractor RM Developments spoke to Groundforce who were already supplying them with a trench-shoring system for construction of an interceptor tank on the site. Groundforce Easiform were able to fulfil the technical requirements of the concrete conundrum with its versatile Frami system.
Frami is a small-panel formwork system designed specifically for cost-effective forming of foundations and smaller wall areas. The Frami panels are lightweight and can be erected by hand without the need to use dedicated craneage. This makes the system ideal for sites such as this, where working and storage space are at a premium
The system comprises a galvanised steel frame with a high quality plywood face and for this project, 1.20m high by 900mm wide Frami panels were used. To achieve the circular shape, thin wooden fillets were inserted between the panels and secured with adjustable clamps and reinforced with 700 mm long, steel mini-walers.
The finished formwork, which took only a couple of days to erect, was therefore of a faceted polygonal shape rather than a true circle.
Phil Hornsby, contracts manager at Kier said” Having worked with Groundforce in the past, I did look at this system with some interest. Being circular in shape, the solution offered meant it was simple, easy to erect and did the job superbly”
“The fact that the wall was not smoothly curved was not a problem” says Groundforce Easiform General Manager, Mark Whitmore. “The wall was built within a shallow excavation and subsequently back-filled to bring the ground back up to its correct level so the wall is actually hidden now below ground”.
Hired for three weeks, the Frami system was a practical and cost-effective solution – and far cheaper than the alternative methods.
“The only alternatives would have been to build bespoke timber formwork from layers of 6 mm plywood, or to specify a specialist circular steel formwork system” says Mr Whitmore. “The timber option would have been very slow and labour intensive and the specialist formwork would have been about twice the price of the Frami system”.
Although not technically complicated, this project is nevertheless notable as it is the first circular formwork that Groundforce Easiform has supplied. “It’s a good demonstration of the flexibility and practicality of the Frami system…it was quick, economical, technically sound and ultimately very successful” comments Mr Whitmore.
The construction of the circular wall was completed during March and the store itself is due for completion later this summer
