Telecoms Base Jacking & Re-levelling

Shire Telecoms was recently approached by client Circet to provide a remedial works design and address a serious foundation issue affecting a legacy Midi equipment cabin - delivering a smarter, more cost-effective solution than anyone initially thought possible.

The Challenge

The cabin had been installed on poor ground conditions and, over time, had experienced progressive settlement of up to 490 mm, a significant displacement that was impossible to ignore. The initial assumption, quite reasonably, was that the only viable fix would be to remove the cabin and its foundation entirely and start again with a new piled foundation from scratch. That route would have meant extended service outages, major groundworks, and a considerably higher cost for the operator.

The Solution

Rather than defaulting to full removal, Shire’s specialist foundation team took a closer look and proposed something better. Using Shire’s patented micro pile and hydraulic jacking head system, the existing foundation could be re-levelled in situ, without the need to rip everything out and begin again.

12 Shire Piles were designed and installed across two working groups. Group A was fitted with hydraulic jacking heads, allowing the team to lift the base with a precise, controlled degree of force, safely and within tolerance. Group B supported steel beams inserted beneath the base, helping to distribute the load of the cabin across the mid-section and providing the additional support needed during the lift.

Once the base was back at its correct level, the void was backfilled, pile heads encased in concrete, and a gravel finish was applied to complete the works.

The Outcome

The result? All piling and jacking were completed entirely in situ, with only minimal service outages. The site stayed live for the majority of the programme, delivering a genuinely value-engineered solution and significant cost savings for the operator, without any compromise on structural performance.