Hovis – Slab Stabilisation

Geobear were contacted by the Hovis bread production plant in Avonmouth, a collapsed drain beneath the floor slab in the warehouse had allowed water to leak into the soil causing washout and voiding beneath the floor slab.

Consequently the slab was unsupported and had began to settle. A cooler was sitting on the slab at this location and the client were looking for a solution to stabilise the floor slab and the solution ideally needed to be one where the cooler could remain in place during the works.

Customer alternatives

The only plausible alternative would be to install mini piles beneath the slab, however the nature of the work causes a lot of disruption for weeks. Where a site is continually in use this does not become viable.

Why Geobear

The chosen solution needed to have no impact on other sections on the bakery plant line during the works. Geobear were contacted to see if geopolymer injection would provide the desired solution to stabilise the floor slab. With the Geobear method, we require minimal access and can implement our solution with little or no effect on the operations of a site.

With a live production site, Geobear is the only option. We can implement solutions either when there is a scheduled shutdown or in localised areas whilst operations continue. There is no contamination with our dust-free solutions and materials we use have no adverse effect on the environment.

Geobear Solution

Our floor slab stabilisation involved the injection of a geopolymer directly beneath the floor slab to fill voids and compact the sub-base.  The selected geo-polymer was injected through the slab with the intent of fully re-establishing contact between the underside of the slab and the underlying soils by filling voids & permeating any voided soils directly beneath the slab.

This ensured the presence of a firm horizon of reinforced soil to act as a base course for the slabs to sit on, the purpose of which is to help prevent future settlement.

We completed the work across the 168m2 slab within two days resulting in minimal mess and disruption. Geobear were able to complete the works in limited headspace beneath the cooler, with no need for the cooler to be relocated, and also with no impact to other plant within the warehouse during the works.