Ground improvement design for new Lidl Regional Distribution Centre in Newbridge shortlisted for ACEI Design Excellence Awards 2020

AGL Consulting are delighted to announce that the Ground Improvement design for the new Lidl Regional Distribution Centre in Newbridge has been shortlisted in the Innovation category of the Association of Consulting Engineers Ireland (ACEI) Design Excellence Awards 2020.

The site, which is located on the outskirts of Newbridge in Co. Kildare, was underlain by highly-variable stratified alluvial deposits of soft clay, loose gravel, organic clay and peat, which were unsuitable for supporting the foundation loads from the superstructure and interior superflat floor slab. An innovative bespoke ground improvement solution was designed by AGL Consulting for the Enabling Works civils contractor John Paul Construction, which involved excavating, mixing and blending the alluvial clay and gravel and processing them into structural fill by lime and cement stabilisation to support the building.  Soil stabilisation was also used to produce capping for the external pavements. In Ireland, lime-cement stabilisation has been predominately used to process cohesive glacial till into structural fill and/or capping.  It was a unique characteristic of this design that the source material for the stabilised fill was derived from site-won stratified layers of low-strength alluvial clay and gravel with traces of organics.  This is an innovative adaptation of the process that sets a new benchmark for the range of fill materials that can be stabilised into high specification structural fill and capping.

The award winners will be announced at the ACEI Awards Dinner on Friday 27th March 2020 in the Intercontinental Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.