Everton have confirmed the latest exciting step of their new stadium work at Bramley-Moore Dock has now commenced.
The piling process for their planned state-of-the-art waterfront ground has begun, which included drilling on the 2,500 concrete piles that will provide the building blocks for the structure.
Work has initially begun on the foundations for the north and south stands, with piling work expected to continue through until the summer of 2022.
Danny Jones, part of the team overseeing the piling for the club’s construction partner Laing O’Rourke, has explained the process and why it is so important to the project in general.
He said: "We drill down to around 16 metres with a hollow drill and, as we go, we pump concrete to the bottom through the stem to replace the bore with a column of concrete.
"We then place a reinforcement cage inside the bore and this will form the foundations for the stands.
"In total, we expect to bore around 2,500 piles, each one being 600mm diameter and the deepest pile being 18m.
"They take around 4-6 cubic metres of concrete per pile and depending on the progress of the dock, we anticipate this work to be complete by the middle of next year."
The piling layout, which is crucial to providing strong foundations to the structure, is designed to avoid the dock walls and prevent any damage to listed assets.
Care is being taken to protect all of the heritage aspects of the site throughout the process, with infill work still continuing at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Over the next three months the dock will be filled with more than 450,000 cubic metres of fluidised sand via a pipeline connected to a dredger moored in the Mersey.
The resulting compacted and rolled surface will then be suitable for more piling, which begins early next year and will form the sub-structure of the club’s new stadium.
