Sheet Piling UK’s Foundation Year and Links to Today’s Business
Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an announcement that it is sponsoring darting legend, Phil the Power Taylor, who will be taking part in the forthcoming World Seniors Darts Championships in early 2022.
Back in the year of Sheet Piling UK’s foundation, Phil won the WDC Worlds Darts Championship, defeating Dennis Priestley. But what else happened in the year of Sheet Piling UK’s foundation? Here, most aptly, are 25 things from the year that laid the groundwork for Sheet Piling UK’s future success.
- 1996 was, of course, the year of Euro ’96 and a year in which we first sang along to Baddiel and Skinner’s ‘Three Lions’. Unfortunately, the team, managed by Terry Venables, lacked the steel to get past Germany in the semi-final penalty shoot-out but many of our employees did have Three Lions on their shirts, and SPUK emblazoned in huge letters on their vans!
- 1000 passengers were trapped inside the Channel Tunnel, when two Eurostar trains broke down. This was also a year in which a fire broke out inside the Channel tunnel. Tunnel safety systems have come on a long way in 25 years. Did you know that one of our latest sheet piling projects is the Silvertown Tunnel project, under the Thames?
- The Olympic games were held in Atlanta – a little too far for our sheet piling teams to head for any construction work in advance of the action. The British team returned with just one gold medal, won by rowers Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent.
- The film ‘Trainspotting’ was released. We’ve been doing rather a lot of that ourselves since the HS2 project got into full swing but HS2 isn’t our only work in rail infrastructure. We have crews all over the country trained up in rail possession work.
- Dolly the Sheep was the first animal to be cloned. Some may think we cloned our unique ABI TM 12/15 unique long-reach telescopic leader rig last year, but we didn’t. We actually made some tweaks, to add new features to the TM 20. The TM 12/15 thus remains unique.
- Some high profile divorces took place in 1996, the most dramatic being that of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales. One of the reasons for our success as a business is that we’ve had few divorces with key personnel and have retained the people who have contributed most to our business over the past 25 years.
- The Manchester bomb rocked what is regarded as England’s second most important city after London. The devastation led to a complete regeneration of Manchester city centre and we have played our part within that, as Britain’s leading sheet piling specialist.
- The first-ever single by the Spice Girls – Wannabe – was launched in 1996, with a name appropriate for us, as Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd, at its foundation, was also a wannabe, striving to become the UK’s leading steel sheet piling specialist. We have undoubtedly achieved this.
- Kofi Annan became Secretary General of the UN. He is quoted as saying, “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” These are words which echo our approach to our business over the past quarter of a century and which have been most recently evidenced in our two latest apprenticeship opportunities, which will launch two young people in their sheet piling careers.
- Take That, the most successful band of the early 90s, announced they were splitting up. They were originally formed as the UK’s answer to ‘New Kids on the Block’ – which is what Sheet Piling (UK) was within the world of sheet piling in 1996, despite our founders’ long history in the sector.
- The TV renovation show, Changing Rooms, first aired in 1996. We may not have changed rooms as such, but we’ve certainly changed many buildings structures, for example, through the two-storey basements created by our steel sheet piling design and installation works.
- Damon Hill won the World Drivers’ Championship in Formula 1 in 1996. Damon is quoted as saying, “The problem comes when you say that danger is part of the equation. Then you don’t do any more work on safety. That shouldn’t happen.” This is very much in keeping with our own view of health and safety in sheet piling. Our recent creation of a bespoke solution to health and safety risk, with regard to the sealing of steel sheet piles with bitumen, demonstrates how we continually work on health and safety.
- The movie ‘Mission Impossible’ was the third biggest box office hit of 1996. This was also the year when Sheet Piling UK started to tackle jobs that others found impossible to handle, such as the creation of two-storey basements, constructed with steel sheet piles.
- The Stone of Scone was taken out of Westminster Abbey, where it had been in situ since 1296, and returned to Scotland, later being installed in Edinburgh Castle. Our own installations in Scotland may not be as historic, but they are significant in their own way, whether they involve work on a highlands and islands ferry terminal or flood alleviation work.
- Rock musical ‘Rent’ opened on Broadway. One of our earliest decisions to make sheet piles available for hire, as well as sale, certainly stood us in good stead.
- Nintendo 64 went on sale in Japan and was soon being imported into the UK. Shortly afterwards, Sheet Piling UK became one of the first British companies to import Japanese steel sheet piles for projects across the UK and Ireland.
- The British Open’s Men’s Golf tournament was held at Royal Lytham & St Annes, just a stone’s throw away from headquarters in Preston. It was won that year by Tom Lehman.
- Michael Jackson’s ‘Earth Song’ became the 20th best-selling hit in the UK. Meanwhile, we were engaging in our own earthwork support projects across the country.
- On that note, the 41st best seller was ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis. By the end of 1996, we had already proved the efficacy of using steel sheet piles not just in temporary retaining wall installations, but also in permanent ones – a major milestone that we achieved within the world of sheet piling.
- Cadbury became the first-ever sponsor of soap opera, Coronation Street. 1996 also established Sheet Piling UK as a company believing in sponsoring causes that matter to its customers and which resonate with them. Our recent darts sponsorships of Phil Taylor and Keane Barry are just the latest evidence of this.
- We can’t quite remember how much we were all paid within the world of sheet piling in 1996, but we can tell you that £100 in 1996 money is the equivalent of £192.55 in today’s (2021).
- The Hubble Space Telescope photographed Pluto for the first time, analysing the surface of the planet. Our own in-depth approach to geological surveys, in relation to earthworks in which sheet pile installation was to take place, also began.
- Innovation occurred when Toy Story became the first feature-length movie to be entirely animated by computer. Since 1996, Sheet Piling UK has also achieved many firsts, including launching the first long-reach telescopic leader rig, as a cost and time-saving solution within infrastructure widening projects.
- Alan Shearer joined Newcastle United in 1996, as the Magpies broke the world transfer record to sign the striker from Blackburn Rovers. Alan played for his beloved home club at St James’s Park – a location at which we carried out sheet piling works earlier this year.
- Jurassic Park premiered on Christmas Day 1996. On that, and other Christmas Days, we have had staff working away from home, carrying out essential infrastructure and construction works. We thank them all for their dedication.
To find out more about Sheet Piling UK and its projects over the years, read our News Section on our website or refer to the ‘Our History’ page.
- Ends -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.