Riverside sheet piling
Ringwood Substation
Replacement sheet piling installed from a floating platform on a shallow chalk stream, with restricted headroom beneath live overhead electricity cables.
The existing riverside retaining piles next to Ringwood Substation had failed. Replacing the retaining wall required work from the shallow River Avon, a chalk stream in an SSSI setting. The adjacent substation and live overhead cables imposed restrictions on access, plant movements and working headroom.
The team developed the working methodology and supplied and installed sheet piles from a floating platform alongside the substation. Work took place beneath cables that remained live, with the restrictions and controls required by the electricity board incorporated into the working arrangements.
Tie bars were installed back beneath the substation to restrain the new sheet-pile wall. The approach brought together riverside retaining-wall installation, floating plant and work within a constrained electricity infrastructure setting.
The works covered methodology development, supply and installation of the riverside sheet-pile retaining wall, and tie bars extending beneath the substation. The project illustrates the use of floating plant where riverside access and live infrastructure restrict conventional installation.