Concrete Pumping for Coastal Defence Repairs at Port of Sunderland

Project introduction

Not every concrete pumping job takes place on a typical building site

We were down at Sunderland Docks with our 36m CIFA boom pump helping contractors with planned repairs to the coastal defences.

With the North Sea right alongside the working area it was quite a setting for the job.

But as impressive as the views were there was still the practical matter of getting the concrete exactly where it needed to go.

What the job involved

The job involved pumping concrete into prepared sections along the dockside as part of the planned repair works.

The site team had areas prepared with steel reinforcement ready for concrete to be placed.

Bailey Concrete Pumping was there to provide the pumping equipment getting the concrete from the delivery point to the sections being worked on.

With the repairs taking place beyond the existing sea wall it wasn't somewhere a concrete delivery vehicle could simply pull up alongside.

The challenge

The biggest consideration on this job was access and tide times.

With the work taking place right alongside the North Sea there wasn't the usual amount of room you'd expect on a building site.

The existing sea wall stood between the pump and the areas being repaired so the concrete needed to be pumped over the structure to reach the lads working on the other side.

It was the sort of job where having enough reach and being able to position the boom properly really mattered.

How Bailey Concrete Pumping helped

We used our 36m CIFA K36/5L with its five-section boom to reach over the existing wall and deliver concrete directly to the working area.

The pump was set up on the accessible side of the wall with the boom extending over to the site team carrying out the repairs.

This allowed concrete to be pumped straight into the prepared sections giving the contractors on the other side a steady controlled supply as they worked.

The result

With the concrete delivered into the prepared sections the contractors were able to carry on with the planned repair works.

It's not every day you find yourself pumping concrete with the North Sea stretching out alongside you, but jobs like this are a good reminder of just how varied our work can be.

From foundations and house extensions to larger civil engineering projects sometimes it's simply a case of having the right pump to get the concrete where it's needed.

Project photographs