Latest News: National Recognition for Sheet Piling Innovation

April 8th, 2019

National Recognition for Sheet Piling Innovation

The whole team here at Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd are buoyed up by the news that our sheet piling business, and the innovation behind it, have been recognised in what are often regarded as the most prestigious national awards in our sector, the CN Awards!

The CN Awards 2019 judges have shortlisted us in the ‘Best Innovation’ category, along with nine other contenders who represent the cream of our sector, although none are in our specific steel sheet pile sector. We are, therefore, flying the flag for sheet pile suppliers and installers, as well as for Preston.

Organisers of these Construction News-affiliated awards have had a record number of entries this year but, despite the stiff competition, our sheet piling innovation has shone through. We will now proceed to the next stage – a panel interview in London – before discovering the winner of our category at an awards evening at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel in mid-July.

Our innovation is the Long-Reach Rig – the TM 12/15R – which we have introduced to the construction industry and, in particular, the infrastructure widening sector, where smart motorway projects and the HS2 rail scheme can both benefit enormously from our rig.

Sheet Piling Rig

 

By commissioning the world’s first long-reach sheet piling rig, at a cost of £1.2m and specifying a design to resolve particular issues, we estimate that we here at Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd could save £40,000-£60,000 on the cost of every 100-metre sheet pile installation along a smart motorway. Such installations are required so that emergency refuge areas can be situated no further than 2.5km apart and so rural land is not eaten up for urban development.

Our new rig can reach 8.1 metres – three metres further than others, with topple prevented by considered counterbalancing. This allows the rig to install sheet piles, while sitting on a motorway’s existing carriageway during widening works. This can save a project all the time and money incurred in having to build a separate platform, just so that a standard rig can complete the necessary sheet pile installation.

In our ‘Best Innovation’ category, we are up against entries relating to specific projects, schemes and health and safety initiatives. Whether our groundbreaking piece of machinery, will have its full potential appreciated is yet to be known, but the authorities are certainly taking notice of the way in which our rig is shaking up traditional thinking.

Gaining the CN Awards 2019 shortlisting, and the recognition associated with it, is a real coup for Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd. We shall head to our panel interview determined to highlight all the benefits of our innovation and see what results.

Given that this is the third award shortlisting for us this year, with both the FSB Awards and the Red Rose Awards having given us recognition regionally, we must be doing something right. The national recognition that the CN Awards 2019 judges have given us is certainly a major boost to morale.

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NOTES TO EDITORS
Sheet Piling (UK) Limited is one of the UK's leading piling contractors. Owning and operating a comprehensive range of specialist piling equipment Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd also carry extensive stocks of new and used piles enabling rapid reaction to any urgent requirements or emergency situations.