Southern Foundations & Pilings Ltd offers a complete range of professional underpinning services to commercial and domestic in LONDON – BRISTOL -SOUTHAMPTON and the SOUTH of England.

We offer a full range of underpinning services including:

• PILED UNDERPINNING
• TRADITIONAL UNDERPINNING
• BASE & BEAM UNDERPINNING
• MASS FILL CONCRETE

At Southern Piling & Foundations, we are experts in all types of underpinning for businesses and homeowners properties. using our underpinning services, your property will be strengthened and its foundations reinforced for many years to come.

Process of works Underpinning Contractors undertake 

Our Underpinning Contractors use a procedure that involves strengthening your Foundation to support the foundation of an existing building. It entails a process where our Underpinning Contractors excavate pits dug to expose the current foundation and add Rc Concrete with steelwork specified by our in house Engineer. 

Southern Piling and Foundations provides Underpinning services in LONDON – BRISTOL -SOUTHAMPTON – DEVON based on an already established depth and plan, eliminating the risk of collapses and faults in future.

WHEN WOULD YOU NEED TO CONSIDER UNDERPINNING

A crack in your building may not necessarily mean that underpinning is required.  Cracks could occur due to poor quality of building materials or excessive moisture, and not because of a faulty foundation.

Always use an Underpinning specialist, if you’re wondering whether your property requires underpinning, here are examples when it may be necessary.

Underpinning is required when:

• You need to add storeys to your building, either below or above ground. Since the new construction could put pressure on the existing foundations, it’s very important to ensure the foundation is strong enough to withstand this new load.
• Nearby construction has altered the stability of the ground and  weakened the foundation
• Subsidence has occurred. A change in the condition of the soil where your property stands could lead to a foundational move. This then leads to the building sinking or shifting. In these situations underpinning services can help to correct the problem.
• The original foundation was not strong enough and is now unable to withstand ground changes. This can be seen through wide vertical cracks on your building walls.

How is underpinning done?

MASS CONCRETE METHOD / TRADITIONAL UNDERPINNING

The traditional mass concrete method of underpinning is a technique suitable for shallow depths of up to 3 meters depths, suitable for dry stable ground conditions. The ground is excavated and constructed in a planned ‘hit and miss’ sequence, making sure that the structural integrity of the building above is safely maintained.

Base and Beam Underpinning

This method is more of an upgrade to the Traditional Mass Concrete method. It involves the insertion of a single concrete beam underneath the existing foundation to add support.

Instead of pouring concrete into open trenches like in Mass Concrete, Base and Beam underpinning use steel bars for stronger reinforcement. The process involves the digging of pits along the outer wall and in predetermined intervals, dropping steel frameworks into the pits, and then filling them with concrete.

The result is concrete beams that add support to existing foundations and hence a stronger structure. This underpinning method is perfect for buildings that need additional stories or that require a change in structural usage. It is used in both shallow and deep foundations.

Pile and Beam Underpinning

This method is for structures with restricted access and needing deep foundations. The method is by digging a hole below ground and through the structure of the existing foundation. A hole is made to accommodate a concrete needle beam to help in load distribution.

Piles are then installed on opposite sides of the hole or either side of the foundation wall with RC framework for reinforcement. The piles are then connected to each other with the needle beam running through the hole in the wall, firming up support.

rc35/40 concrete is then poured to fill the gaps and add support to the beam. This is used to transfer
the current load from the original foundation to a more stable and reinforced platform.

Health & Safety

Health and safety is very important to our company and especially when underpinning, all of our Underpinning Contractors have gone through vigorous training and have your safety and there own at the top of there priority’s.

That’s why at Southern Piling & Foundations Ltd, we make sure that our underpinning services comply to all CDM (Construction Design and Management) regulations. In addition, we ensure the following;

• To conduct a Risk assessment before commencement of work.
• Inspect and assess the ground conditions to determine the best Underpinning method to use.
• Inspect the pits for any instabilities and hazards.
• Plan and enforce Health and safety policy’s while Underpinning.
• Only use highly trained and skilled labour to undertake specific jobs.