Leading Contractors For Underpinning in Suffolk 

In partnership with homeowners, major contractors and national developers we deliver anything from garden walls and small home extensions to large scale, complex projects and challenging programmes for national homebuilders and multi nationals. No job is too big or too small

At Suffolk Groundwork Network our members offer our clients a complete package of underpinning works. Suffolk Groundwork Network members provide professional piling and foundation services, that offer value-for-money, reliability and an unrivalled customer experience. Our talented contractors with combined experience of over 150 years,  works hard to achieve your objectives whilst being respectful of your living space or development schedule, and promises to deliver your project on time and on budget.

  • Insurance related underpinning
  • Piled rafts
  • Insurance related internal piled rafts
  • Domestic underpinning
  • Base and beam underpinning
  • Mini pile and beam underpinning
  • R.C. Concrete slabs
  • Mass concrete underpinning or traditional underpinning
  • Shoring buildings and structural steel supports

 

Our Underpinning Services Include:

UNDERPINNING
Over time, some buildings experience movement. This can be caused by inadequate foundations, highly shrinkable soils, tree roots, leaking drains etc. Underpinning is often the best solution, which requires excavating below existing foundations in one meter wide sections and pouring concrete to extend the depth of the foundations to more suitable ground. This is known as traditional underpinning or mass concrete underpinning.

BASE AND BEAM UNDERPINNING
As an alternative to traditional underpinning, base and beam underpinning may be used. Base and beam underpinning requires less excavation and less concrete, therefore it is often seen as an economical alternative to traditional underpinning. Ground conditions and site specific factors also play a significant role when deciding which underpinning technique to use.

MINI-PILE UNDERPINNING
In particularly poor ground conditions, mini-piles are sometimes used to assist the underpinning process, they can be an economical method of reaching good quality load bearing strata. Reinforced concrete beams are formed on top of the mini piles and these extend under the existing foundations to provide support.

BASEMENT UNDERPINNING
Our groundwork contractors can offer clients the complete basement structure, ready for fit out and carry out all underpinning, concrete slab, waterproofing and drainage works and are always happy to offer clients advice and assistance.

INTERNAL PILED RAFTS
Piled rafts offer another commonly used alternative to traditional underpinning. Our members tend to use piled rafts when the subsidence is more extensive and the ground conditions are particularly poor, which would render traditional underpinning uneconomical.

Instead of underpinning the foundations, our members mini-pile the internal area and these mini piles support a new reinforced concrete slab or raft, which extends beneath the load-bearing walls and supports the superstructure.

Piled rafts tend to be more practical than traditional underpinning in poor ground and they are more economical than a total demolition and re-build of a property. Please see photos of some of the piled raft projects that we have worked on.

SHORING BUILDINGS
Our members also shore up buildings to provide temporary or permanent support to vulnerable structures.

Our groundworkers install anchor blocks and bracing as well as steel support structures to hold delicate buildings, facades, or gable walls in position while potentially damaging construction work is carried out.

Our members also provide structural support where buildings or building elements have been identified as being at a high risk of full or partial collapse.