The Winery, Fairhills Road, Irlam, Manchester
Client: Kingsland Drinks Ltd | Sector: Industrial / Manufacturing | Location: Irlam, Manchester
Background
Kingsland Drinks Ltd operates one of the UK’s largest independent bottling and distribution plants. The site includes extensive warehouse, bottling, and yard areas critical to operations.
Signs of significant ground movement emerged: cracking to internal walls, multiple sinkholes in yard areas, and an area of the building placed out of bounds after remote monitoring recorded ongoing movement (4 mm in one week).
Challenges
- Highly variable ground conditions: the north-western corner is founded on an infilled former river channel, presumed culverted beneath the site.
- Made ground overlying alluvium (locally up to ~8 m), with weathered sandstone and sandstone beneath.
- Investigations identified degraded sub-base conditions, shallow voids under slabs, and areas susceptible to washout and collapse.
- Requirement to stabilise critical internal areas rapidly, without removing the warehouse slab or interrupting production.
Alternative Solutions Considered
- Full excavation and slab replacement – lengthy programme, high disruption, production downtime.
- Traditional underpinning/piling – intrusive and not well suited to large slab areas with unknown void distribution.
- Geopolymer injection – targeted void filling and slab stabilisation achievable within a single shift and minimal disruption.
Small drilled holes, fast, no excavation
Why Geobear
- Void filling beneath slabs without excavation.
- Rapid delivery in a single shift to minimise downtime.
- Proven approach for complex industrial ground conditions.
- Monitored, controlled injections with laser levelling feedback.
Geobear Solution
A treatment plan targeted a 65.5 m² critical zone beneath the internal concrete floor. Site checks had revealed shallow voids of approximately 30–140 mm directly beneath the slab, with loose surrounding material.
- Drilled a grid of injection points through the slab.
- Injected expanding geopolymer resin to fill voids and improve support.
- Monitored slab response via laser levelling to confirm re-engagement with the underlying soils.
Injection Performance (from site records)
- Total material placed: 266 kg
- Injection points: 45
- Observed slab response: multiple points recorded positive lift between 0.5 mm and 2.0 mm; other points showed “flicker” responses, indicating successful void filling without measurable lift.
- Programme: completed in a single shift with the area kept operational.
Time Saving
- Geobear solution: single-shift delivery; no slab removal required.
- Typical excavation/rebuild alternative: several weeks with significant disruption and production loss.
Outcome
The works re-established slab support in the treated zone, reducing the risk of further collapse and enabling continuous plant operations. Given the variable site geology, ongoing monitoring is recommended, but the targeted intervention delivered a rapid, low-disruption stabilisation where it was most needed.
