Offshore Marine Piling in Bideford, Devon
“Precision installation of 273 mm Ø driven piles using custom-built equipment by Noakes Engineering”
A Landmark Offshore Marine Piling Project on the River Torridge
Our latest offshore marine piling project on the banks of the River Torridge in Bideford, Devon, showcases our commitment to delivering robust, reliable foundations in challenging coastal environments. This project required steel-cased driven piles (273 mm Ø × 3 m) installed with high precision using a drop hammer system custom-built for this purpose.
The works were made possible through seamless coordination, skilled engineering, and the use of purpose-built attachments—all manufactured by our sister company, Noakes Engineering.
Project Brief:
The footprint of the new property extends beyond the existing sea wall and includes a glass balcony overlooking the river. This added to the complexity of foundation design and pile installation.
The site presented a complex set of constraints typical of offshore marine piling—tidal influences, confined working areas, and access limitations from the riverbank.
To overcome this, a temporary scaffolding platform was erected to provide safe personnel access and working space for welding the 273 mm Ø × 3 m steel cased driven piles. This structure was essential for logistics, safety, and weld precision.
One of the main technical challenges in designing our excavator attachment was dealing with the excavator’s positive-pressure hydraulic tank system, which ensures performance on steep gradients. This ruled out the widely used Pullmaster PL-5 winch, due to its return circuit pressure limit of 0.7 bar. This challenge led us to engineer our own solution—the NE15-20LH hydraulic free-fall winch—built specifically for our piling attachment.
All piles were installed using our custom-built drop hammer system—a 1.0t DHX5010 excavator-mounted pile driver. This heavy-duty attachment was engineered for precise driving of steel-cased driven piles under tidal and marine working conditions. Supported by the NE15-20LH free-fall winch, the system delivered consistent and controlled hammer drops even in restricted spaces.
All piling functions—including hammer control and winch operation—were managed from inside the excavator cab, improving operator visibility, safety, and overall workflow. No manual intervention at ground level was required.
Advanced Piling Technology
The NE15-20LH free-fall winch features an innovative pile monitoring system, displaying average drops per meter in real-time. This ensures consistent driving energy during drop hammer operations and enables real-time adjustments for variable ground resistance.
Welding to the Highest Standards
Every weld on the steel-cased driven piles was carried out by our coded welders, certified under BS EN ISO 9606-1:2017. This guarantees structural integrity, traceability, and compliance with offshore construction standards.
Scope of Works:
- Mobilisation of piling rig, scaffolding, winch, and tooling to the tidal riverbank
- Installation of a temporary scaffold platform for welding access
- Supply and driven installation of 273 mm Ø × 3 m steel casings
- Precision drop hammer piling using the DHX5010 excavator attachment
- Deployment of the NE15-20LH hydraulic free-fall winch with live drop monitoring
- Welding performed by coded welders under BS EN ISO 9606-1:2017
