The Federation of Piling Specialists (FPS) is pleased to announce its support for the establishment of the UK Centre for Research in Cities and Infrastructure (UKCRIC), in particular the proposed ‘buried facility’, which will allow the testing of equipment and foundation systems under controlled conditions.

UKCRIC is an initiative of the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK. The support by the FPS represents a continuation of collaboration with the University’s School of Civil Engineering and will see the FPS provide a number of support elements to the project specifically:

• Representation of a member of the FPS Council on the UKCRIC advisory panel, with the focus on the buried infrastructure centre at Birmingham.
• The canvassing of opinion of its [FPS) Membership on the aims of the project and encouraging corporate members to participate. This participation may be in the form of provision of data, loan of equipment and the provision of equipment and staff to conduct surveys to assist in the development of the equipment.
• Advice on the needs of the UK foundation and geotechnical industry with respect to the design of the facility.
• Collaboration with academic partners to apply for joint funding to develop new and improved foundation systems and test installation processes to overcome current barriers of the technology.

Commenting on the support of the UKCRIC project Martin Blower, Chairman FPS said: “The facility will be of tremendous benefit in the advancement civil engineering and the buried facility, in particular, to the foundation sector. Problems that arise when installing various foundations into busy urban conditions are estimated to cost the UK foundation sector millions of pounds annually, so the ability to test approaches under controlled conditions will help reduce this figure as well as advance the sector.”