SCD PilingCarlane Lodge
Slapton, South Devon
- Completed
- December 2025
- Pile type
- 150mm SCD Mini-Piles
- Number of piles
- 30 pile positions
- Load
- 90kN per bearing pile
- Ground met
- Made Ground over Siltstone (Meadfoot Group)
- Time on site
- 2 weeks
in Exeter and Devon
Geovex has an office in Exeter, at Unit 15 Newcourt Barton Business Units, Clyst Road, Topsham, and this page is for sites in the city and across Devon. The Devon job shown on this site is Carlane Lodge in Slapton, South Devon: 30 steel cased driven mini-piles and 109 linear metres of reinforced concrete ground beams for a new house on sloping ground.
Exeter and Devon
24h Quotation
Fixed Pricing
£5M Insured
12yr Warranty
It is one example. Piling has been our family's trade for over 20 years, and this site shows a selection of the jobs. The Exeter office is on 01392 542119, and the London, Southampton and Leatherhead offices take Devon enquiries too.
Regional Offices
- ExeterNearestUnit 15 Newcourt Barton Business Units, Clyst Road
Topsham, Exeter, EX3 0DB 01392 542119 - London (HQ)Office 511, 60 Tottenham Court Rd
Fitzrovia, London, W1T 2EW 020 4634 5936 - Southampton15 Rockstone Place
Southampton, SO15 2EP 023 9433 1836 - LeatherheadTwo Firs, Calvert Road
Effingham, KT24 5SG 01372 236377
REAL JOBS
Piling Exeter: 30 driven piles on a Devon slope at Slapton
Carlane Lodge is a new-build house on sloping ground in Slapton, South Devon. We delivered the piled foundations and the reinforced concrete ground beams there, planned together as a single substructure programme.
The ground investigation identified variable made ground over the Meadfoot Group, with extremely weathered Devonian siltstone and silty clay beneath. Groundwater was encountered across the boreholes. On that evidence conventional strip foundations were unsuitable, and the house needed piles to reach competent bearing strata.
We installed 30 steel cased driven mini-piles at 150mm diameter. Each was installed to competent bearing in the siltstone and reinforced with 2H16 rebar. The safe working load was 90kN on each pile, and every position achieved the set criteria required on site.
After the piling we cast 109 linear metres of 525mm by 300mm reinforced concrete ground beams, in C28/35 concrete to DC-2. They form a suspended foundation suited to the slope. Piles and beams together took about two weeks, mobilisation included, and the site was left ready for the superstructure to follow.
- SCD Piling
METHODS
Mini piling Exeter: steel cased driven piles and the bored methods
The Slapton piles are steel cased driven mini-piles, SCD for short. A steel casing is driven into the ground and stays there, with the reinforcement and the concrete inside it. The casing displaces the soil as it goes down, so no spoil comes up to be carted off the site.
SCD piling is one of several mini piling methods we own the rigs for. The others are bored with an auger, in one length or in short sections, and they suit a site where a drain, a neighbour or the engineer rules out driving. Mini piles run from 150mm to 350mm in diameter. Where each pile needs to carry 400kN or less, a mini pile does the work from a rig that travels on standard transport.
Access on a Devon plot can be tight: a lane, a gateway, a garden behind a terrace. Our 750mm-wide rigs are built for that, and sectional augers work under low headroom, from 2.4m. Steel casings come in standard sizes of 150mm, 168mm, 220mm and 273mm, chosen to match the load at each position.
Screw piles are a further option for light structures such as extensions and garden buildings. They are steel shafts with helical plates, wound in with no concrete, so they can carry load as soon as they are in place. The drawings and the ground report settle which method fits.
Our services: Mini pilingCFA pilingSFA pilingSCD pilingScrew pilingFoundations
GROUND CONDITIONS
Ground in Devon
One Devon site is shown on this page, so this section reports that site and makes no claim about the county. At Slapton the ground investigation identified variable made ground over the Meadfoot Group, with extremely weathered Devonian siltstone and silty clay beneath.
Groundwater was encountered across the boreholes. The write-up gives no level for the water and no depth for the strata, so none is given here. On that evidence strip foundations were unsuitable, and the 30 piles were taken to competent bearing in the siltstone.
Exeter, Exmouth, Newton Abbot and Tiverton may stand on quite different ground from that slope. The engineer designs from a ground investigation of your own site, so send the report with the drawings and we will read it before we suggest a method. With no report to hand, send what there is and we will explain the next step.
WHO WE WORK FOR
Piling companies Exeter: one contractor for piles and ground beams
Slapton shows the arrangement we offer builders, developers, groundworkers and structural engineers in Devon: the piles and the reinforced concrete from one contractor, under one programme.
This page is written for housing plots, commercial buildings and programmes of several weeks, in Exeter and across Devon. A shorter job, such as a single house or an extension, is welcome as well.
For larger schemes the usual method is CFA piling, where the pile is formed in one pass through a hollow-stem auger. CFA piles are offered at 300mm, 350mm, 450mm and 600mm, and the range for a rig is 10 to 20 piles a day, set by the diameter and the depth.
Send the drawings, the address of the site and any ground investigation report. A detailed quote follows within 24 hours of the drawings reaching us.
Each job comes with the pile records Building Control asks for, a 12-year workmanship and materials warranty, subject to its terms, and the cover of our £5M public liability insurance.
Towns we cover in Devon
- Exeter is covered; the Slapton job shown above is the Devon example on this site.
- Exmouth is covered; send the drawings and the site address to begin.
- Newton Abbot is covered; our written-up Devon job is at Slapton.
- Torquay is covered; the Exeter office will take the call.
- Paignton is covered; Carlane Lodge in Slapton is the job shown for Devon.
- Totnes is covered; the Devon job on this page is at Slapton, in South Devon.
- Tiverton is covered; ring whichever office on this page suits you.
- Cullompton is covered; the Slapton job was on site for two weeks.
- Taunton is covered; the job shown on this page is at Slapton.
- Slapton is covered; it is where our Devon job is: 30 driven mini-piles and the ground beams for a new house at Carlane Lodge.
DEVON FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The Devon job shown on this site is Carlane Lodge in Slapton, South Devon: 30 steel cased driven mini-piles of 150mm and 109 linear metres of reinforced concrete ground beams for a new-build house on sloping ground. It was completed in December 2025.
Have a question not listed here?
Call our teamENQUIRY FORM
Send us your Drawings
Attach the drawings if you have them.
DIRECT CONTACT
Our Offices
The Exeter office is nearest. Call whichever suits you.
Regional Offices
- ExeterNearestUnit 15 Newcourt Barton Business Units, Clyst Road
Topsham, Exeter, EX3 0DB 01392 542119 - London (HQ)Office 511, 60 Tottenham Court Rd
Fitzrovia, London, W1T 2EW 020 4634 5936 - Southampton15 Rockstone Place
Southampton, SO15 2EP 023 9433 1836 - LeatherheadTwo Firs, Calvert Road
Effingham, KT24 5SG 01372 236377
Mon - Fri: 7:00am - 6:00pm