Groundforce Shorco supports London landmark scheme

Groundforce Shorco has supplied a variety of specialised props and beams to support a complex deep excavation in the centre of London.

Specialist contractor Ground Construction Ltd was employed by main contractor Ardmore to carry out extensive basement works for a new life science campus in the King’s Cross Knowledge Quarter.

Designed by architects Bennett Associates for developer the Reef Group, the Tribeca development will ultimately provide a million square feet of life sciences, office, retail, leisure and residential space.

Phase One was completed in July 2024 and Ardmore’s £240m contract for Phase Two – comprising three multi-storey buildings totalling 540,000 sq ft – is due for completion in 2026.

Ground Construction Ltd used Groundforce temporary propping equipment to support the main basement excavation for Blocks C2 and C3 as well as multiple smaller excavations within the main excavation area.

Due to the complexity of excavation, a variety of propping equipment was required, ranging from light-duty MP30 mechanical struts to the MP375, one of the largest in the Groundforce Shorco range of modular hydraulic struts, capable of supporting a load of 375 tonnes.

Groundforce Mega and Super Mega Brace waling beams were employed to transfer the lateral loads to the contiguous bore piles and steel sheet piles lining the sides of the excavations.

The excavations ranged in depth from about 8.5m in Block C2 to as much as 15m in the main excavation area, and ranged in width from about 2.5m to 44m.

A total of 28 Groundforce Shorco props have been installed on the project. Nine MP250s and the one MP375 were installed within the main excavation; four MP150s were installed to support the retaining wall in the southwest excavation; 13 MP150s, two MP30s and one MP250 support the excavation for the attenuation tank, and four MP250s were located in the core cap excavation.

Groundforce Shorco’s ability to mix-and-match components from its range of modular components was essential to providing a tailored solution to this complex task. In addition to the four different sizes of prop, they also supplied extension tubes in diameters of 508mm, 610mm, 813mm and 1,220mm (the largest in the range) to ensure the optimum combination of strength, stiffness and compactness.

The largest tubes – the 1,220mm Super Tube – were used in combination with MP250 hydraulic rams to span the 44m width of the main excavation at two levels.

The site’s location in a densely populated urban area provided an additional challenge for the site team.

“The site has roads on two sides and a canal along a third,” says Ground Construction Ltd Temporary Works Director Keith O’Connor.

Load monitoring has been used for some of the props in the main excavation along the run to ensure that loadings are closely monitored for any increases beyond the design limits.

The excavation is complicated and has been tricky, admits Keith. “But the biggest challenge has been managing the sequence of the works and the release of areas on site,” he says.

“There were a number of Interacting excavations which required careful management across the site but we worked with GCL to ensure safe, efficient and adaptable solutions. Contributing to such a landmark London development and seeing our designs perform on site has been highly rewarding,” says Hussein Koussan, Design Engineer at Groundforce Shorco.

Ground Construction Ltd and Groundforce Shorco have worked together on several previous projects and teamwork has been crucial on this site, says Keith O’Connor:

“This has been a challenging project but progress has been quite straightforward.”

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