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D-Drill & Sawing were able to signal the go-ahead for a 5G mast upgrade in Yorkshire, after successfully load testing a pre-installed concrete base that required new anchor bolts.
D-Drill’s client had been tasked with replacing and upgrading a cell phone mast to 5G for a telecommunications provider, but did not have details of the existing concrete base which required new anchor bolts to be fitted to accommodate the new footprint of the larger mast.
With no details of the existing base available to use, they contacted D-Drill’s special services division to conduct some survey works and install and load test the new anchor bolts for the new and upgraded 5G mast.
D-Drill’s special services manager, Lionel Whittemore, arranged permits to visit the site to conduct testing using a Cable Avoidance Tool (CAT) to check for buried cables within the slab, before marking out anything that was detected with spray paint so that it was clearly visible to the mast riggers when they attended the site.
Lionel and his team then carried out a Schmidt hammer test to determine the strength of the base slab’s concrete, ensuring the design team could be confident the base would be suitable for the new mast.
This was followed up with scans of the concrete base to locate and determine the position and content of reinforcing steel, again, so that the design team had clear details of the mast base make up so they could make accurate calculations for the new mast.
This enabled Lionel and his colleagues to attend site during the mast swap to ensure any issues could be swiftly addressed, before installing the anchors using the supplied template, while load testing them to the required 100 kilonewtons.
Lionel said: “This project perfectly highlights how D-Drill’s specialist testing and surveying expertise can support major infrastructure upgrades like the installation of new 5G masts.
“By accurately assessing the integrity and strength of the existing concrete base, we were able to give the design team full confidence that the structure was suitable for the upgrade - helping to keep the project on schedule and compliant with all safety standards.”
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