Site report: Pumping to a bungalow extension in Nottingham

Many people believe that concrete pumps are only used on major construction projects. This certainly used to be the case but nowadays mobile concrete pumps are recognised as a labour-saving method of placing concrete on smaller jobs especially where access is a problem. Many of the jobs we do now are extensions, refurbishments and renovations of residential properties.

This concrete pumping job for a bungalow extension in Nottingham is fairly typical of these smaller pours. Eight cubic metres of concrete were required at the back of a bungalow to provide foundations for an extension. Obviously, the concrete mixer could not get access to the trench, neither could a dumper and it could be a long hard day moving nearly 20 tonnes of concrete by wheelbarrow! The easiest solution was to book a small concrete pump.

The job was done with an M16 pump, setting up adjacent to the bungalow, booming over the property’s boundary wall and using just a couple of additional pipes to reach the furthest part of the footing. The concrete placing boom pump was set up and ready to work in approximately 30 minutes and it took a little over 30 minutes to pump the concrete into the trench. This included time to move the pipeline and strip it back as the footing was filled. Even allowing time to wash the pump at the end of the job, it was still only a morning’s work.

At the start of the job, the builder provided cement to grout the pipeline and a polythene sheet to protect the newly laid tarmac road. On completion of the job, there was approximately one-third of a cubic metre of concrete left in the pump and pipeline. The builder made up a box 2 metres x 2 metres using scaffold boards and lined it with polythene. The residual concrete was washed into this box to be removed later. The site and road were then left clean and tidy.

• Pump: M16

• Customer: Frank Key (Nottingham) Ltd

• Site: Rainsworth

• Concrete Supplier: Bardon Concrete

• Date: October 2004