Challenge
Valeo Foods needed to build a mezzanine, but core samples showed the ground was too weak. The alternative (piling) required moving machinery and would "miss the shutdown window."
Solution
Geobear strengthened the ground by injecting geopolymer resin in-situ in just one day. No machinery was moved, allowing the project to meet the tight deadline.
To complete ground strengthening
Machines moved
Production lines worked over
Valeo Foods, producers of Rowse Honey, planned to expand their Wallingford, Oxfordshire production facility by installing a new mezzanine. This vertical expansion would add valuable space over three existing production lines. However, pre-build core samples indicated the ground strength was insufficient to support the additional loads.
The project manager, Jason Rose, was locked into a specific factory shutdown window in early June 2017 to erect the mezzanine. The core samples showing weak ground put the entire project at risk. The traditional solution, "mini piling in the column position," was found to be unsuitable. As Mr. Rose stated, this would have required the area to be "cleared meaning the project would have missed the shutdown window."
The mezzanine contractor, Stodec Products Limited, recommended the Geobear system as it could be completed within the tight timescales. Geobear's solution involved injecting a specialist geopolymer resin directly beneath the existing slab at the specific locations of the future mezzanine columns.
This was achieved by drilling small holes and using steel tubes to inject the material. The resin then expanded, compacting the soils and strengthening the ground to withstand the new load pressures without any structural movement.
Geobear completed all work on a Saturday when no production was taking place. The client stated, "the procedure was efficient and there was a minimal amount of cleanup required." The floor's mechanical strength was checked on Sunday, and the results were extremely positive, allowing the mezzanine erection to commence the following weekend as planned. The project was saved, with the client noting, "Without finding this type of solution the work will not have been able to take place."
Don't let weak ground stop your expansion. Strengthen your slab in one day with no disruption.
