Ground engineering

On most sites in Bahrain, groundwater arrives before the excavation reaches formation level. Shoring without dewatering floods; dewatering without shoring draws the ground in. The two scopes are usually let separately, and the gap between them is where programmes are lost.

We own the vibro hammers, the excavators, the pumps and the tanks, and we run them with our own crews. That means the shoring sequence and the drawdown programme are planned together by people who answer to the same project manager.

Owned plant, not hired in

Three vibro hammers — ICE Netherlands, Alkor Korea and a 22-tonne SY220 — allow parallel working and leave a spare when one goes down. Eleven diesel pump sets in 6-inch and 4-inch, six sedimentation tanks and over 400 metres of discharge hose cover drawdown and discharge without sub-hire.

The earthworks and retention plant is ours as well, so an excavation can be dug, retained, trimmed and reinstated without a hire desk in the sequence:

• Excavators, backhoe loaders and skid-steer loaders
• Dump trucks for muck-away and import
• Rollers for reinstatement and formation compaction
• Rock breaker attachments for Bahrain’s caprock
• Pile trimmer for cutting piles down to cut-off level
• Sheet pile sections and steel frames for walings and strutting
• Vibro hammers for driving and extraction
• Dewatering pump sets, sedimentation tanks and discharge hose

Capability at a glance

• Sheet pile driving and extraction, driven and vibrated
• Wellpoint dewatering systems for shallow drawdown
• Deep well dewatering for deeper formations and long-duration abstraction
• Bore holes, submersible pump installation and abstraction management
• HDPE geomembrane lining for lagoons, bunds and containment
• Sedimentation and discharge management to meet consent conditions

Confined space entry

Excavation work in Bahrain routinely becomes confined space work — manholes, pumping chambers, sumps, culverts, wet wells and deep shored pits all qualify once they are deep enough and poorly ventilated. Our crews are certified and equipped for it rather than improvising on the day.

• Confined space certified manpower — entrants, attendants and entry supervisors, training records issued per crew
• Self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) sets and positive pressure respirators
• Gas detection sets for pre-entry testing and continuous monitoring during occupancy
• Tripod rescue winch and retrieval harnesses for vertical entry
• Forced-air ventilation, intrinsically safe lighting and low-voltage tooling
• Permit-to-work discipline, isolation verification and standby rescue arrangements