The foundation needed to be able to support the weight of a concrete slab, and silos, and meet the regulatory requirements.

H5 treated Radiata Pine timber piles were determined as the best solution to be installed down to the founding layer.

There were multiple dense intermediate layers that had to be driven through.

Piles had to be installed between adjacent buildings, but could not affect the integrity of these buildings.

The site was only 12.0m wide which made handling 14.0m piles extremely difficult.

Installation needed to be rapid.

Due to space restrictions on site the delivery of materials needed to be carefully managed.

Pile Driver Analyzing (PDA) testing to verify pile capacity needed to be carried out.

Once the founding layer had been reached the poles were cut off above ground at the level required for placement of the commercial buildings concrete slab.

The subcontractor, Markovina Pile Driving South Island, installed the MultiPoles in close proximity to the adjacent buildings – some were placed as close as 600mm.

In order to pick up extra end bearing capacity in one section the MultiPoles were installed large end first.

Pile Driver Analyzing (PDA) testing for Dynamic Load was carried out to verify pile capacity, and a geotechnical ultimate load capacity of up to 860kN per pile was successfully achieved.