Pumping up approximately 175 metres at the Shard

The structure of the Shard, the tallest building in Europe at 309.6 metres high, is now complete and work is continuing apace to fit out the floors for use.Camfaud has carried out work at the Shard for a number of sub-contractors, most notably pumping the flowing floor screed to the Shangri-La Hotel located on floors 34 to 52.Originally it was planned to use semi-dry sand and cement screed and place it with pneumatic screed pumps. However, discussions between the Shangri La’s main contractor John Sisk & Son, their subcontractor Progressive Group and the screed pump manufacturer Putzmeister concluded that this would not be practical so the decision was made to use a flowing floor screed.Progressive awarded the contract to pump the screed to Camfaud and so, as progressive prepared the floors for screeding, Camfaud installed a fixed pipeline that would eventually rise to approximately 175 metres high. The pump chosen for the job was a brand new, Putzmeister BSA1409D This pump had the output and pressure required to pump to this height and it complied with the most recent environmental and emissions regulations.The screeding was programmed to take place each Wednesday when the area around the pump was dedicated to deliveries of screed and the pumping operation. On non-pumping days, progressive prepped the next floors and Camfaud modified the pipeline accordingly.Each Wednesday during the contract, Camfaud supplied a pump operator, a linesman and a supervisor. The screed was pumped at a rate of up to 15 cubic metres / hour and placed by Progressive staff using high pressure end placing hoses. One or two floors were screeded each Wednesday according to the programme. At the end of the day, Camfaud staff cleaned the pump and pipeline ready for the next pour.It was believed that the Shangri-La hotel would be the highest that a Gyvlon based floor screed had been pumped. As the material had never been pumped this high before, there were concerns about how the it would behave under pressure and whether it would tend to segregate in the pipeline during breaks in pumping (when swapping mixers etc). However, these worries proved to be unfounded; the material pumped well and remained homogeneous at all times. To give credit to those supplying, the screed was Tarmac Truflow, which is based on the Gyvlon Sky flowing floor screed specification.(For those of you unfamiliar with the “vertical village” that is the Shard’s, there are 72 habitable floors in the Shard and further 15 levels making up the “spire”. The vertical village consists of:Ground-floor – Shard Plaza, a public area with seating and plants.2nd floor – retail units opening onto the concourse of London Bridge Station.4th to 28th floors – offices space and winter gardens.31st to 33rd floors – international restaurants centred on a triple-height atrium.34th to 52nd floors – Shangri-La Hotel and Spa53rd to 65th floors – 10 exclusive residences with 360-degree views68th to 72nd floors – public observation galleries.)