Project Progresses to Piling in Apsley

Following two rounds of advanced trials over the last six months, the Osborne team have started piling works at Apsley.
Over the next three months, the team will be installing 87 piles in close proximity to the West Coast Main Line railway without causing any delays on the normal operation of trains.

This has been made possible by close collaborative working with both Network Rail and Hertfordshire County council. Over the past 18 months, the team have been having regular stakeholder meetings and sharing proposals for work with them.

For the first time, the team are using a specialist piece of kit called a Tensar TR2 geogrid. This is a system in which you to lay a plastic mesh through aggregate in layers, compacting it as you build upwards. It allows you to build almost vertical faces, without risk of collapse. The team are using this to reinforce the earth piling platform next to the railway and it is proving to be a success and gives complimentary flexibility than more conventional options.

The first day using a Tensar TR2 geogrid was a complete success and the ground conditions were better than encountered during our trials, which gives the team confidence that works will continue at a steady rate of productivity. The team now plan to proceed on programme, installing one pile every day until all of the piling works are complete.

Osborne began work last year to build a bridge over a railway line, in Apsley in Hertfordshire.

The scheme will remove a potential traffic bottleneck on Featherbed Lane.

The new bridge and road has been carefully planned and designed to ease current congestion, improve safety and provide future capacity for the estate as it becomes populated. Osborne’s bridge and road works are due to be completed by spring 2018.