Project overview

To facilitate the addition of the first female locker rooms and an extension to the existing male locker rooms, Technik Ground Solutions was awarded the contract to construct two contiguous piled retaining walls at The Royal and Ancient Clubhouse at The Old Course in St Andrews.

The project

The historic landmark of the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse in St Andrews was to be expanded to provide more locker room space. To avoid any dramatic visual alterations to one of the most iconic buildings in the world of golf, the upgraded locker rooms were to be constructed by extending the basement space below the existing car park.

The clubhouse works had to be carried out around the tournaments held at the famous venue with absolutely minimal disruption to the golf course itself. Two large basement extensions, on the north and south side of the building, were to be constructed. Each area of the site was extremely limited in space and required restricted access piling rigs to provide the retention solution both with the site and up to the boundaries.

Solutions provided

Technik Ground Solutions’ retention solution consisted of installing 450-mm-diameter piles. The total length of wall installed exceeded 100 m, resulting in 169 piles. The maximum retained height was 4.2 m.

The ground conditions of dense sands over sandstone bedrock required layout of piles installed at close centres of 600 mm. The overlying sands were initially temporarily cased to ensure that the existing foundations of the clubhouse were protected and not compromised. Once the overburden had been breached, the bedrock was rock ripped using only rotary techniques with our high-powered Hütte 205 mini piling rig. The quality of the rock allowed piles to be installed to depths of 8 m below ground level.

These techniques were trialled in advance of the main works to prove their suitability. Because of the sensitivity of the historic clubhouse building, trialling works were also required to ensure that vibration limits were in accordance with the parameters set by the structural engineer.

During and after excavating the basement, the piles were surveyed to ensure the required plan and verticality tolerances were achieved.