The client, Seyani Brothers Ltd, a construction contractor also based in Kampala, was developing their own site in central Kampala. Plans were in the making for several years before ground was finally broken in 2020. The structure would become an 8 storey mixed use building. EA Piling worked with the structural engineer, Proman, to establish the pile requirements and commissioned Piledesigns Ltd from the UK to perform the specialist pile design. The design was optimised in 2017 following additional geotechnical investigation recommended by Piledesign Ltd, then modified to the final structural requirements in early 2020.

The site is very low lying and maintaining an adequate working platform was a constant battle for the main contractor especially in times of heavy rain. Nonetheless the work continued even through some wet days and was completed between October 2020 and January 2021.

The waterlogged soils would require full depth temporary casings if drilling using rotary method so CFA method was selected early in the design phase. The CFA method is ideally suited to the 450 and 600mm piles required. Cage installation is often troublesome with longer piles drilled with CFA method because the cage is pushed into the wet concrete. However, CFA specific cage design calculates the depth within the pile at which the lateral and tensile loads have sufficiently dissipated not to require a cage. Limiting the cage length not only makes for easier installation but also saves the client money on steel bars wasted at the bottom of the piles.

Concrete was batched at the main contractor’s batching plant in Kampala then delivered to site in 8 cum transit mixers. The main contractor tied the steel reinforcement at site ready for installation by EA Piling. A Soilmec R620 Piling rig in CFA mode was employed for the works.