Hand dug raft, London

Project Gallery

The Objective

The home owner of the property tasked Atlantis to put in place the foundation works for a full width extension which would double the living space within the home.

The first job was to demolish the existing half width rear extension while propping up the upstairs newly refitted bathroom.

The challenges

The main challenge facing Atlantis from the start in this build was to remove over thirty tons of rubble and London clay from site which had no rear access, we also had to take in to consideration the oak floor that was laid throughout the house.

We protected this by installing a layer of plastic, a layer corex protection sheets then 12mm thick plywood.

With the floor safely hidden behind a protective layer we then hand dug the space for the foundations and carried out in bags. We had to store the waste in the front garden and also the clients protected lounge.

The waste materials were then loaded into a 'wait and load' service provided by our waste contractor. The waste was then recycled at a waste transfer station.

The method

Once the existing extension was removed, we had to use acrows and strongboys to hold the upstairs bathroom.We then carefully dug two pad footings ready for the steel beam to be bolted too. Once the beam was in place we could then dry pack the building and remove the acrows

With the building now supported again by its own structure, the most challenging part of the project completed in removing the waste from site we started to lay the new drainage required for the new kitchen.

We worked within the confined space to lay the extensive foundations on London Clay, we used pumped concrete to establish a solid base, re-enforced steel frame to ensure the groundwork was stable to build on.

Waste, environment and the community

On this particular job, as we do on all projects we used a fully licensed waste carrier to recycle the waste. We were required at times to use very noisy equipment in a built up area.

We carried out door to door liaison with the neighbours and established what would be the best times to perform the noisy works. We are proud to say that we had no complaints from the neighbours during the period of the project.

The result

The groundwork part of the job was very labour intensive combined with the awkwardness of removing the waste.

The atlantis team has no choice but to give 100% in order to keep the project on track. This was achieved with great team work with the architect and structural engineer not to forget our reliable concrete supplier.