Sleepless night?

[hotrod]

I hope the designer's calcs can stand up................

More here:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-19725952

 

[jabuzzard]

I guess it all depends on how deep the piles where sunk The river Newburn ran underground in a culvert here so clearly it was an issue, hence the piles in the first place. Apparently the culvert collapsed earlier in the year and had not been repaired, it is on land belonged to the Duke of Northumberland.

My understanding is that they are considered most likely beyond repair and will be demolished. Neither the developer or Northumberland estates is accepting liability, so no surprises there.

There are no signs of cracking in the pictures, and if the piles are sunk deep enough I would have thought it would be possible to repair.

 

[TonyW2]

What's wrong? A bit of hardcore filling should be OK.

 

[jabuzzard]

What's wrong? A bit of hardcore filling should be OK.

I don't know. A work colleague of my brother in law lives in the effected flats. Apparently there was a public meeting where the residents where told that the engineers have declared it unsafe and probably unsafe to try and repair.

 

[rjm2k]

What are those pipes? I initially thought they were for pumping the water but if you look on google maps they were there when they photographed the area and seem to run along the road

 

[xdave]

What are those pipes? I initially thought they were for pumping the water but if you look on google maps they were there when they photographed the area and seem to run along the road

I'd love to know too, but the main reason for this post is to add the link to Google Maps: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=New...yne+and+Wear,+United+Kingdom&t=h&deg=270&z=19

 

[jabuzzard]

There are various reports of the culvert the river Newburn ran through collapsing in either May or June. I am going with June when there was a torrential down pour along with dramatic thunder and lightning and substantial flooding that turned the Gateshead Western Bypass into a carpark and it took people all night to get home. It made the national news.

I guess they have been pumping the river Newburn over the collapsed culvert ever since, but Tuesdays down pour overwhelmed the pumping operation. If the Google imagery is recent it would show that. I notice if you zoom out to the satellite imagery it does not show. The photos showing the pipes where taken from an aircraft. Satellites even if they are looking sideways don't show that amount of the side of the building due to their height above the earth's surface.

Apparently the issue is that the piles have moved, which to me suggest that they where not deep enough. Also they are saying that much more than just the flats hanging in the air are going to have to come down.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

I would hazard a guess the founds were perfectly adequate for the ground conditions in the area. No engineer could have foretold the area was going to receive an above average amount of rainfall, which would lead to the collapse of a nearby culvert, only to then be followed by another dose of above average rainfall, sufficient to wash away that amount of soil!

Looking at the satellite image, it appears there may be a large crater at the junction of Millfield Lane/Spencer Court, coupled with the pipework from the overpumping operation, suggests the site of a collapse in the culvert.... Again, I would have expected the overpumping operation to have been set up to incoporate sufficient capacity in reserve for increased flow in times of rainfall, but no-one could have planned for the amount of rainfall received.....

Culverting watercourses always carries a risk of insufficient capacity when Nature decides to let loose a bit more than usual.... My home town has a stream running through the middle, which at some point virtually 99.9% of the towns surface water drains into. It was culverted in the late 1970's with sufficient capacity for projected flows in (I believe) a 1:100 year event. However, where the stream enters the culvert a grille is fitted, autumn 2001, one large overnight storm, one blocked grille and one flooded town centre.....