Bathwick Hill- Foundation Piling shoehorn a contiguous bored pile retaining wall anchored back into limestone bedrock to make space for a 'Grand Design'.
Foundation Piling were approached by the clients to solve a problem with the plot for their innovative self-build property. They intended to plant the largely pre-fabricated kit-house into the top of a steeply sloping site, less than a mile from the historic centre of Bath. Their scheme was the subject of a planned ‘Grand Designs’ programme.
As with much of the Bath area, the ground conditions were extremely variable. The site investigation indicated evidence of former landslips, highly weathered clay, underground water and limestone at depth, but with the possibility of natural solution voids.
At Consulting Engineers Mann Williams' suggestion, the clients called in Foundation Piling to progress the overall foundation design of the site. The house had to be fitted into the slope, balancing the depth of retaining walls with the stringent Planning restrictions on the roof height.
The site was sloping steeply down onto Bathwick Hill, itself a sloping main route between the city and the University of Bath. Access onto the site was difficult, as was the steep climb to the house position. To further restrict access, the small wooded areas across the lower site could not be touched, so a narrow access way was cut between these areas by the contractor. Foundation Piling then installed soil nails into these cut faces, backed by a geogrid erosion layer., to support the access road in the long term (top photograph). The way was then clear to continue with the work.
Heavy rains added to the groundwater already running through the slope, but the piles were completed, and the anchors added to the capping beam. Excavation of the site then continued, forming the void for the clients house-builders to proceed. The whole build was featured on the Channel 4 ‘Grand Designs’ programme., shown recently.
Foundation Piling - Bathwick Hill (Program website)