HS2 – Eiffage Kier works, Nash Lee
As part of HS2’s preparation works, Eiffage Kier continues to carry out ground investigation (GI) works in the local area from Nash Lee up to the southeast of Stoke Mandeville in order to obtain technical information about ground conditions. These further investigations will help to inform our design as it matures, and will take place from mid-May to July 2019.
The GI works include using a mixture of ground radar and borehole techniques to take rock and soil samples. A typical bore hole has a diameter of 200mm and can vary in depth from around 10 to 50 metres. Small pits known as trial pits will also be excavated, and these tend to be about 4 metres long, less than a metre wide and up to 4 metres deep. The photograph left shows a borehole operation.
The works will be carried out by teams of three or four and all investigation locations will be safely reinstated. Works at any one location will generally not exceed two weeks. We do not expect any impact on highways, however neighbours near to work sites may hear drilling.
Further afield, we are working at our ‘heave’ monitoring site in Wormleighton, near Boddington, not far from Daventry, Northants. The purpose is to see how the ground behaves in a cutting. We have inserted monitoring devices, which test the ground in real time, giving us a rich picture of the ground conditions.
HS2 Ltd website for information: http://hs2inbucksandoxfordshire.commonplace.is/