04/01/07 Biggest ever ground stabilisation project for Consolidate

Consolidate has won its biggest ever contract to date, with work on the £3.6m ground consolidation project now well underway at the old Belvedere Hospital in the Parkhead district of Glasgow.

The site is being stabilised for a major flat and house building development by Kier Homes. Up to 10 drill rigs are being used by Consolidate in the ground stabilisation process, including two new powerful Casagrande C6 drill rigs, which were recently ordered by the company from Italy.

The house building project is part of the Glasgow east end regeneration plan and it is anticipated that the ground consolidation will take 70 weeks to complete. Carried out in conjunction with consulting engineers Johnson, Poole and Bloomer, up to 10,000 bore holes will be sunk in a 3.5m grid pattern.

Using steel drill casings, one mine shaft and four seams will be infilled with a pulverised fuel ash (PFA)/cement grout mixture to varying depths of between 30 and 45 metres.

Beaton Sutherland, Consolidate director, said: “We are delighted to have won this major contract, which has helped pave the way for our most successful year to date.”

The Parkhead area of Glasgow is home of Celtic football club, but Consolidate has been keen not to adopt a partisan approach, for it recently completed a ground stabilisation project for the Elder Park Housing Association near Ibrox, home of Glasgow Rangers FC.