Belfast QUB Students’ Union

Opened in 2022, the new student centre and Students Union transformed the provision of student services and support offered in one central state of the art facility opposite Queen’s University Belfast.

Quinn Piling were initially contacted in January 2020 to assist with the piling solution for the proposed Student’s Union. After providing ‘value-engineering’ to the scheme, Quinn Piling commenced installation in July. The new building replaced the former Student’s Union in the same location, at the junction of University Road and Elmwood Avenue, sitting at the heart of the campus. The site consists of a gross internal area of approximately 10,300m2

Piling Scope and Details

The project involved the installation of 463no. 450mm diameter CFA piles up to 20m long, each carrying Safe Working Loads up to 1,125kN. These include 152no. up to 16m long, 64no. up to 18m long and 247no. up to 20m long with loads of up to 700kN, 900kN and 1,125kN respectively.

Ground Conditions

The Ground conditions on site comprised Made Ground up to 5m deep, underlain by sleech around 5-8m thick. Glacial sands and clay Tills underlay this, with weak Sherwood Sandstone [UCS 2-10MPa] at depths ranging from 28m at the east ramp[N] to 18m at the west ramp [S]. Due to the poor geotechnical properties of the sleech most of the piles were taken to a depth of 20+ metres to meet the required loading criteria, with some requiring up to 4.5m rock socket into the sandstone.

Why CFA Piling?

CFA piling was chosen as the best piling system, as it is able to accommodate the relatively large loads in these ground conditions, plus is more sustainable in that it produces little noise and vibration to minimise impact on adjacent properties and users.

Conclusion

463no. 450mm diameter CFA piles were constructed to a depth of up to 20m within 2 months to accommodate the construction of Queen’s University’s new Student’s Union.