Sheet Piling UK Highlights Environmental Options on World Environment Day
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On World Environment Day (June 5), the UK’s leading sheet pile specialist, Sheet Piling (UK) Limited is highlighting the various environmental benefits associated with steel sheet piling, so as to encourage more project designers and contractors to consider their deployment.
Sheet Piling UK (www.sheetpilinguk.com) first highlights the reusability of steel sheet piles used on a temporary basis which, at end of life, can be easily recycled, helping to make the most of the resources that have gone into each one.
Environmental protection is another area in which steel sheet piles can be advantageous. Installing sheet piles creates little environmental damage in the vicinity of the works, unlike concrete piling. Little spoil rise occurs when steel piles are installed.
Being an ally to nature and the land that provides so many wildlife habitats is another facet of steel sheet piling. Steel piles can be used to hold back water that could cause widespread flooding and environmental damage, when installed besides shorelines, flood plains, riverbanks and close to areas subject to coastal erosion.
Where environmental damage has already occurred – for instance on brownfield sites – Sheet Piling UK points to the benefit of using sheet piles to contain various contaminants and pollutants and prevent the spread of the contamination, as work is carried out.
Noise pollution can also be tackled by sheet piles, with steel sheet piles, fitted along routes bearing heavy and noisy traffic, being able to deflect sound and reduce noise pollution for those living nearby. When using one of Sheet Piling UK’s silent and vibration-free piling rigs, noise pollution around construction sites can also be minimised.
In another application, steel sheet piles can also be used within crumbling reservoir structures, to help hold water back and prevent water seepage and escape. This helps prevent widescale environmental damage, which would occur if such a structure gave way. Sheet Piling UK is something of an expert in this type of reservoir repair project, currently working on one at Staines Reservoir.
One environmental benefit is unique to Sheet Piling UK and can be delivered in infrastructure widening projects. There, the sheet piling specialist can reduce environmental damage when using its unique long-reach telescopic leader rig. A case in point is smart motorway refuge area creation, where there is no need for the usual building of a platform for a rig to stand on, as the TM 12/15 LR telescopic leader rig has a reach 3 metres longer than any other. This means less disruption to the flora and fauna living in and around embankments
But perhaps the most unusual environmental protection project that Sheet Piling UK has worked on was one directed at saving the lives of European eels – an endangered species prone to swimming into pumping stations on the Thames. By installing sheet pile screens in the Thames, Sheet Piling UK was able to help eels contentedly swim on, free from harm.
Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd’s managing director, Andrew Cotton, says: “Steel sheet piles offer many environmental benefits and we also have cutting-edge equipment that can help protect habitats and allow the public to not have to suffer noise pollution around building sites.
“We hope to see more projects considering environmental impacts in the coming years and turning to the solutions that we can offer. With so many years of expertise, there is little we are unable to do in terms of project design, should some particular environmental situation need to be handled with sensitivity and bespoke methodologies.”
To discuss the most environmentally sensitive solution for your construction, civil engineering or road or rail infrastructure project, call Sheet Piling UK on 01772 794141 or visit www.sheetpilinguk.com
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Press calls: Jane Hunt, Catapult PR, 01253 446925 – jane@catapultpr.co.uk
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Editors notes
Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd is the UK's leading national sheet piling contractor and sheet pile installation specialist, with over 25 years' experience of handling a wide variety of land and marine-based projects. It supplies both permanent and temporary sheet pile solutions and has a fleet of cutting-edge equipment, including its unique and specially commissioned long-reach telescopic leader rigs, which have a reach 3m further than any other rig.
