Kier is main contractor on the job for the Scottish Government where NPC will be supplying an array of its hydraulic pile croppers.

Kier has been on site since October 2023, undertaking works to remediate the complex brownfield site which once housed a gas works before the start of the main construction process.

Roger Bullivant has been appointed the piling contractor, while much of the groundworks, including the pile cropping, will be undertaken by Careys.

National Pile Croppers sales director Scott Fitchett said: “Based on Carey’s experience of using NPC pile croppers on other jobs, we were given the opportunity to demonstrate our expertise and knowledge at another large scale, prestigious project in Scotland.

“We delivered the croppers and arranged a demonstration for Careys and Bullivants.  The demonstration was a tremendous success. This has led to Careys ordering keeping the croppers on site and putting them to use. Careys also ordered another two croppers as it intends to establish another work team.

The MultiBar is the latest iteration of NPC’s ubiquitous pile cropper and still works in the same efficient and uncomplicated manner. It its lowered over the concrete pile which is then reduced at 250mm intervals enabling broken pile sections to be removed.

Fitchett said: “The MultiBar is best used by an excavator of at least 6t, and depending on the variant chosen, weighs either 450kg , 550kg or 600kg. This all means that it’s small enough to be highly manoeuvrable but has the substance to deal with the toughest of precast piles with four or more reinforcement bars.

“The Power Cropper, on the other hand, uses two very powerful rams to ensure no pile up to 300mm will not be cut with ease by the two extremely hard wearing and fully scissoring jaws. Hydraulic control boxes ensure the two jaws operate in complete unison to provide much less trimming work at finish level.

“It can be used to reduce the piles in sections of 1m and more at a time, cutting straight through the reinforcement allowing the site to be cleared extremely quickly.”

Both types of croppers are now working on the initial stages of the project.

Fitchett added: “Careys’ site manager Brian Quinn is very pleased with the croppers as well as the support he is receiving. We attend the site weekly and Brian has been provided with a dedicated contact at our customer service desk so that anything foreseen that arises can be dealt with immediately. Our Scottish depot located in Airdrie is also playing a key role in supporting Careys throughout the project.”