DIAMOND DRILLING

ST PANCRAS BASIN

London

St Pancras Basin

Project Location

St Pancras Basin is located centrally in London in an area not often thought about as a resting place for narrow boats and pleasure boating but when a new clubhouse was being built needs arose for concrete cutting.

The Brief

Requirement: Diamond Drilling

The client required a new hole 125 mm dia hole to be formed through lock walls to allow for surface water drainage from the new clubhouse without damaging the old 1.2m thick brick and concrete wall.

The work was more involved as the original brick wall would be affected by any percussive work and care had to be taken when fixing drilling equipment to the face of the wall. The wall also had an extra metre of concrete infilled behind at some time in the past and the hole had to penetrate through the full depth of the 2 materials.

Matters are always a little different when working over water.

The Solution

Project Begins

A new hole 125 mm dia hole to be formed through lock walls to allow for surface water drainage from the new clubhouse.

St-Pancras-Basin-initial-level-of-water-below-dock

Photo 1

The old 1.2m thick brick and concrete wall

Diamond Drilling

The work was more involved as the original brick wall would be affected by any percussive work and care had to be taken when fixing drilling equipment to the face of the wall.

Photo 2

The wall also had an extra metre of concrete infilled behind at some time in the past and the hole had to penetrate through the full depth of the 2 materials.

Location

Discussions took place to agree the best method and what the means of access would be.

It was necessary to drill from the lock face as the infill concrete behind the wall was too rough and variable to set up the rig and provide a suitable vertical base.

St-Pancras-Basin-view-of-drilling-location

Photo 3

Matters are always a little different when working over water.

The Method

It was found that there was a concrete ledge at a lower level in the water which could be used to stand on so the water level in the dock was lowered to expose this base to provide the working platform.

St-Pancras-Basin-hole-being-drilled-and-small-barge

Photo 4

The contractor provided a safety barge to be moored adjacent to the face of the wall to avoid the risk of a fall into the water.

The Rig

The rig was also slightly angled to provide a fall for the drainage away from the building.

St-Pancras-Basin-aerial-of-rig-set-up-an-1-2m-deep-wall

Photo 5

The rig was bolted to the wall using resin fixings as we did not want to stress the brickwork with a mechanical fixing or provide a weak connection.

Diamond Drilling

Extension rods were used to achieve the required depth and on this photo you can see the diamond drill bit penetrating the final section of infill concrete on the internal face.

St-Pancras-Basin-Drill-rig-set-up-and-drill-bit-penetrating-1.2m-deep.

Photo 6

It also created interest for the passers buy on the opposite bank !

The Drilling

Both the contractor and the client were complimentary on the standard of work carried out and wanted their thanks to be passed onto the operative.

St-Pancras-Basin-face-of-new-hole-drilled.

Photo 7

The concrete core shows the make up of the flint aggregate encountered in the wall.

A fitting way to end the details of contract carried out.

Client Testimonial

Dear Marcus,
I’m writing to thank you for your company’s help with our clubhouse project yesterday.
Richard was superb throughout the day. Always very helpful, he remained cheerful and hard at it, despite the rain and the cold.
He was kind enough to explain his approach to our problems and how his kit would make light work of the job, which he then proceeded to use to good effect.
I’d be grateful if you will pass on to him my thanks for his valuable contribution. From my perspective, whatever you’re paying him, it’s not enough.
Kind regards,
Andrew Phasey
Commodore
St. Pancras Cruising

Happy days!