vibro-piling? How damaging is it?

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Anyone had any experience of vibro-piling near their home? The area of my estate is about to be built on and they are intending to vibro-piling for the properties around the edge. Mainly because the ground is mainly sand. The piling could be within 3 - 4 meters of my house, and less than 50cm from my garage. They want to come round and take pictures of my home before they start, to see if there are any cracks on the external walls.

There is a possibility the work might be moved a bit further away from my border. Maybe 6 - 7 meters from my house, but still within 2 - 3 meters of my garage.

I've not heard of vibro-piling before. Only drilling piles and hammer.

Should I agree to work or contest it? I guess the work will happen regardless. . . . Just wondering if I should expect damage or not?

Any advice?
 
If I agree to the work they will do a survey, but they pick the surveyor. If I reject the building plans I then have 2 options, they will offer to pay for a surveyor, but they pick, or I can pay to investigate it myself.

In the main I do agree to work, will be great to get the development finished and should be a nice boost to the local house prices. But the work does give me a slight cause for concern.
 
If I agree to the work they will do a survey, but they pick the surveyor. If I reject the building plans I then have 2 options, they will offer to pay for a surveyor, but they pick, or I can pay to investigate it myself.

In the main I do agree to work, will be great to get the development finished and should be a nice boost to the local house prices. But the work does give me a slight cause for concern.

If they wouldn't let me pick I'd refuse to even let them entertain the idea altogether. If I did I'd want a written statement explaining that they will put anything right should any damage be caused to your property, regardless of what it costs them.

Why do they need to do it so close to your house? They going to build that close?
 
Yes they are going to build that close. My road was divided into 2 between 2 contracts. 1 pulled out of the project years ago. The land has just been purchased by Keir and they are squeezing as many homes on as possible. They did a deep ground survey, and want to pile down 6 - 8 meters for foundations around the edge of the development. My house I've been told was built on a "raft" so allows some movement. Keir are taking a different approach.

I don't believe I can stop/delay them building. The work appears to have been approved by the council. This seems more of a practice of protecting themselves from any legal action if damaged is caused to the surrounding houses. There are 7 homes affected, 3 of them have instantly ok'd the work, 1 has refused it, the other 3 have not decided. Though woman from Glanville structural engineers is coming to see all the home owners on Wednesday.

The guy across the road from me has bigger worries as they will be piling 2 meters from his house.
 
If they wouldn't let me pick I'd refuse to even let them entertain the idea altogether. If I did I'd want a written statement explaining that they will put anything right should any damage be caused to your property, regardless of what it costs them.

Why do they need to do it so close to your house? They going to build that close?

You can't deny them this without very good justification.

This is a party wall matter, and you have the right to have a surveyor appointed on your behalf by the developer (at his cost), who will make sure the work puts you at no disadvantage. The surveyor will in turn appoint a structural engineer if necessary (again at developer's cost) to assist the surveyor. Trust me, you don't have to doubt the integrity of the surveyor and engineer they appoint for you, even if paid by the developer, as long as they are accredited professionals (RICS, ICE, IStructE).

https://www.gov.uk/party-wall-etc-act-1996-guidance
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa..._Wall_etc__Act_1996_-_Explanatory_Booklet.pdf

I have been an engineer working for surveyors in these sorts of cases. Happens all the time, and the developer will do all due diligence to make sure no damage takes place. Even if it does, pots of money will be put aside to repair damaged cause. Just a note though, a certain amount of damage can be considered acceptable. That last bit will be down to surveyor/engineer to agree.

Most piling is safe, though comes at risk. Hence the photo survey etc, movement monitoring before/during/after construction, and other precautions.

Just a note that under a PWA, you need to respond to them within certain timeframes to make sure the process is followed correctly.
 
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Yes I have until the 27th to respond. The structural engineer woman seems nice enough. Nice and fast in response to my questions. Doing some research into this vibro does seem like a good idea especially for the sand based ground my house is built on. I think as long as I get in writing from Kier that they will repair any damage caused then i'll sign the agreement. It will give me a faster access road to my house too so as said above, once its all done it should be good! May see a nice increase in home value too.
 
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