The Concrete Story

“Our works involved construction of a reinforced concrete slab on metfloor metal decking over the sea.  There were various issues involving dead load weights and possible use of lightweight concrete  however the main concern was dealing with the distance to pump the concrete a total of 160m in length was pumped with the pour being halted 2m3 short of completion.  The line was then disconnected from the concrete pump and attached to a standard two tool compressor; this was then used to blow the line through pushing the remaining concrete through the line and into the pour, thus cleaning the line completely and avoiding the need for any messy clean up or emptying of lines.  The shortfall was then topped up with 1 ton bags filled with concrete and placed in brickies' muck bins to complete the pour.

Total area 450 m2 total volume of concrete 75m3.  Total time to place 6 hours 3 wagons on turn around.

There was a huge amount of concern over this pour as it was clear to all concerned how bad it would be if the pour did not go well , fair play to all concerned for the time and effort put in to help ensure all went well on the day of the pour from the volunteers of the Hastings Pier Charity who gave up their time to assist in the marshalling of the traffic, the local  council and constabulary who were understanding regarding our restricted space to park concrete pumps and concrete mixers wagons.

A massive thanks to the Project Manager over the entire refurb of the pier,  Mr David Spooner, without who. I doubt the project would ever be done,  truly a pleasure to work with, undaunting in his energy and in his ability to resolve problems with good old fashioned common sense .  A big thanks to his site team and to the photographer John Cole who kept the Sikh concrete gang  amused by demonstrating his ability to speak Punjabi.

A big thanks to Brett concrete technical, lab tech team and reps for their patience and their expertise in creating a suitable mix design for this job and being there all day in the rain taking the slump tests and the cubes.  Another big thanks to  South Coast Pumps again for their patience, advice on suitable mix design and their  flexibility in being able to set up the lines days in advance of the pour.

The steel decking was supplied by Nick Robotham of SWUK Steel decking, originally not the first choice however, after being let down quite late in the day Nick stepped in at short notice, was extremely helpful in technical issues, and very quick to come back with a price which was most competitive, so a big thanks to Nick.  In fact  all the suppliers were a pleasure to deal with and gave great service  on a scheme were their input and support  was of paramount importance. “