Water Treatment Sheet Piling Project Demonstrates Reduced Carbon
Recent sheet pile installation and extraction works in Lancashire have demonstrated the full benefits of steel sheet piles from an environmental perspective and highlighted how the strategic use of temporary steel sheet piles can help reduce a project’s embodied carbon footprint.
Sheet Piling UK was appointed by Advance Plus, to work on behalf of United Utilities at its Chipping Waste Water Treatment Works. The project involved constructing numerous sheet pile cofferdams, to act as temporary protection for workers constructing new detention tanks, humus tanks and other structures required for the upgrade of the facility.
As the work had to be fitted around other works taking place on site, the installation and extraction of the cofferdams could be phased. We recognised that this presented an opportunity to re-use the temporary steel sheet piles, installed for one cofferdam, on the next required. This process was repeated multiple times on the same site.
This not only meant great cost savings for the client but also greatly reduced the environmental footprint of the works. Moving our Kobelco SK380 SRLC excavator piling rig, fitted with Movax SG-60 side grip vibratory hammer from one installation location to the next, we repeatedly installed, extracted and reinstalled the resilient steel sheet piles.
Working in this way can be of major advantage in sustainability terms and demonstrates the importance of careful planning in the design stage of a project – something at which our in-house design team excel. They are always keen to promote steel sheet pile re-use, where possible, understanding how important this is for carbon emission reductions globally.
Carbon content of new steel piles ‘vs’ used sheet piles
Brand-new steel in the UK has an embodied carbon content of approximately 1700kg of carbon dioxide per tonne of steel. On the other hand, the embodied carbon content of re-used steel drops to around 60kg per tonne.
An Environmental Product Declaration adds some clarification to the benefits of reusing steel, with this declaration containing verifiable and transparent data about the environmental impacts of re-used steel, based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
The calculation used by the EPD is based on the premise that, if a steel sheet pile is used for a temporary structure, it will later be used elsewhere as well. Whilst the exact number of re-uses cannot be known in advance, a realistic assumption would be that it would be used in five temporary applications. In accordance with the LCA, the temporary sheet pile would then be 100% recycled at the end of its lifetime, with this full recyclability being a major advantage of steel sheet piles.
By using steel sheet piles that have already been used elsewhere, rather than commissioning brand-new piles for temporary works, contractors can help dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of their projects. Sheet Piling UK is totally committed to this business practice and maintains a stock of around 4000Te of used sheet piles, to help clients make this important choice.
In total, the Chipping project will see around 200Te of used sheet piles utilised in installation and extraction works that started in September 2022 and which will continue until November 2023.
If you wish to incorporate the environmental benefits of reusable steel sheet piles into your project, please call us on 01772 794141.
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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.