© GTL Partnership Ltd • Tel +44 (0)1403 741 166 Client: The Noble Organisation, Gifford & CMP Site: The Brighton Palace Pier – Boat Deck Replacement Location: Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom Project Description Brighton Palace Pier is a Grade II listed building that opened in 1899. The pier stem and head total approximately 540m in length and the pier head itself comprises structure from three distinct time periods. The central core comprises Victorian cast iron piles. To the north east corner is an area known as the boat deck built in the 1930’s. In the mid 1990’s the pier head was extended with new structure that surrounded the original pier head. The 36 piles to the 1930’s boat deck are rolled steel joists. Interestingly GTL’s initial involvement came from the fact that the original Victorian piles were screw piles. GTL were commissioned to design, supply and install a piling solution for the boat deck replacement project. The clients engineer had originally planned to utilise helical piles, however, GTL were able to provide an alternative unique solution that would ensure buildability and provide cost savings to the client. The new solution had never before been used in this environment and under such constraints anywhere in the UK. Specific working restrictions made this particular project a challenge. The Pier itself is a commercially operating pier that attracts large numbers of public visitors. The design was developed to negate the need for access / working from the sea to reduce any potential delay due to poor weather and also mitigate potential health and safety hazards. A structural working platform was constructed below the pier deck to enable access to install the piles. This obviously created working height, logistical and load restrictions; therefore, the piles were designed in manageable sections. Geotechnical Ground Conditions GTL, in partnership with Whitworth Peck, reviewed the available soils data which revealed that the site was underlain by thin seabed gravels overlying Upper Chalk. The chalk was typically described as a very weak/weak low and medium density chalk. On this basis, GTL treated the chalk encountered as “rock chalk” Pile Design The scheme required 24 bearing piles each consisting of a 406.4mm x 20mm thick circular hollow section installed in conjunction with a limited access segmental auger.