Spinnaker Tower

Soaring up to 170m, the Spinnaker Tower is a new landmark for the south coast of England, and having changed the skyline forever it is now the UK’s tallest publicly accessible building outside of London.

Bringing new life to Portsmouth’s harbour was challenging. Pile construction was undertaken from floating craft, operating in tidal conditions and a very busy and constrained area.

All 88no. 1400mm diameter piles were constructed over water. Pile lengths varied from 36 to 51m with each one requiring permanent steel casing over the top 18 to 36m depending on loading requirements. Polymer drilling muds were used throughout.

Two piles were load tested using adjacent piles to provide the reaction required.

Piling rig used: Casagrande B220