Diamond Tools ensured success of sea wall strengthening project

19 January 2010

In the UK specialist diamond tools were vital for upgrading the sea defence wall at Weston Super Mare. The Plymouth Area Manager of contractor D-Drill, John Barber and his team, drilled over 4,500 holes over seven months to complete the work.

D-Drill had to drill holes through the granite and concrete of the sea wall to insert vertical dowels up to 3.5m deep. Also diamond saw cutting was required to form 1,338m of a rebate 100mm wide x 100mm deep to secure reclaimed granite copings to the top of the wall.

“Due to the poor state of the existing sea wall, continuous diamond coring barrels seemed to be the most effective method of achieving the required depths to enable the installation of new dowels”, says John Barber. “In this case conventional drilling methods could have weakened the wall beyond repair, so the diamond tools used were crucial to the careful completion of the work”.

The work involved diamond core drilling 1,200 holes 78mm diameter and up to 3.5m deep in granite and concrete, as well as diamond core drilling 3,335 holes of 25-50mm diameter and 1m deep. The work required special Diaquip extended length core drills, which were custom made for the job and included Hydrostress HCCB professional diamond core drill rig, Partner hydraulic power pack, Partner Diamond Ring Saw and a Dimas 4 speed hydraulic motor.

All work was completed on time and in budget and D-Drill secured additional works with the main civil engineering contractor, Birse.

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