ALDI Distribution Centre

Location

Mitchelstown, Co Cork

Client

ALDI Stores (Ireland) Limited

Type

Civil Engineering

Description

Downes Associates provided full civil engineering design services for this development together with a full time Resident Civil Engineer on site for the duration of the civil works.

Areas of design responsibility included significant site re-profiling, foundation design, circulation roads, marshalling yards, car park, SUDS (sustainable urban drainage systems) and foul sewer design.

Sustainable engineering design was a key feature of this project, and Downes Associates utilised advance CAD software to analyse the site for optimum use of site won material. This approach was highly successful in achieving the re-use of approximately 500,000 cubic metres of site won material (crushed limestone rock and glacial till) to create a uniform ground floor level without any need for cart-off or import of cut/fill material. This significantly reduced the hazards associated with construction transport.

During the construction phase a thorough regime of ground probing radar and exploratory pilot hole drilling was instigated in order to locate all hidden underground karst anomalies such as voids or cavities – which were subsequently filled with grout. The foundation solution chosen by Downes Associates utilised the excavated rock and overburden material which was spread and compacted to build up levels in the lower area of the site – this ensured that concentrated loads from pad foundations was dissipated to acceptable risk levels at depth within the karst bedrock.

Site-won crushed rock was used as fill below the building footprint (with stringent settlement testing of each layer) and site-won clay was used to upfill and form noise attenuation embankments along sensitive boundaries.

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