FK Lowry Piling has completed the design and installation of 255 Continuous Flight Auger Piles (CFA) for a new Viaduct for a regeneration scheme in Wales.

The £100 million scheme will see a derelict industrial site in west Cardiff transformed into an 800-home 'urban village'.

The project will provide new homes on a 53-acre site in Ely.

Known as The Mill, FK Lowry Piling were sub-contracted to the locally-based Alun Griffiths Contractors for the construction of a new Viaduct on the project.


FK Lowry Piling deployed one of their Soilmec SR-75 Piling Rigs to install 450mm, 600mm & 750mm diameter CFA Piles to depths up to 14m below existing ground levels. The underlying soils consisted of Made Ground/Fill, underlain by stiff clays, medium dense sands before very dense gravels were encountered at depth. Piles were then required to penetrate into a conglomerate of Siltstone and Mudstone.

FK Lowry Piling's Contract Engineer, Martin Mc Kinstry, said: "The choice of Piling Rig here was key to the success of this project for our new Client, Alun Griffiths. The Scheme Designers, Arup, had specified a Toe Level into the underlying bedrock and we therefore deployed a high-torque SR-75 to ensure that we founded at these depths."