Miller Homes,<br /> Bothwell Bank

We were employed by our client, Miller Homes, as the design & build contractor for the enabling works at their site at Bothwell Bank where they are building 105 new homes. Miller Homes approached us during the land purchase stage so that we could assist with abnormal costs and ultimately assist with the land deal.

Project challenges / GDL solutions

• The site was split into 2 phases by a valley. The valley was to be retained and the site profiled around it. Careful consideration had to be given to the embankments to ensure there was no risk of slippage. Mass deep soil mixing provided an excellent solution to stabilise the embankments and provide a suitable foundation solution for retaining walls.
• The subsoils were unsuitable for compaction to a structural specification without treatment so fill materials were modified prior to compaction. Soft formation soils were also modified prior to filling to create a platform suitable for standard strip foundations where appropriate. This approach reduced the number of piled plots significantly in Phase 1 and omitted piling completely in Phase 2.

Project benefits for the client

• Dramatically reducing the amount of piled plots brought significant savings and simplified follow on works for the ground-worker.
• We were able to offer a complete solution across the site by utilising several of our in-house techniques such as earthworks, soil modification, deep soil mixing and piling. Having the in-house capability for the different techniques allows us to select the best approach for each area on site.
• Import and export was minimised bringing both financial and environmental benefits.