We completed the foundation works for the project at 42 Belgradzka Street

“Under specific soil conditions, polymer slurries can offer a significant alternative to bentonite and contribute to a major improvement of the production process while ensuring the high quality of the diaphragm wall”, says Jan Raczko, Quality Engineer at Soletanche Polska. 

The building offers 39 flats, 3 business spaces, 64 parking spots (53 in the underground garage and 11 outside) as well as 18 bike racks. The business spaces were planned on the ground floor and a part of the first floor. The investor is the “WYŻYNY” Housing Association, and the general contractor is the ZAB-BUD company. 

Soletanche Polska began to carry out its scope of work in December 2023 by constructing the guide walls. In early January 2024, the company started excavations for the first sections of the diaphragm wall.

“Our task consisted in constructing 50-centimetre-thick diaphragm walls enveloping the building’s basement, at a depth reaching over 10 metres. Diaphragm walls provide trench shoring during the ongoing construction, while ultimately they will form the external walls of the building’s basement”, says Anna Szafrańska-Angelaki, Project Manager at Soletanche Polska. 

Currently, Soletanche Polska is performing post-production work involving the cleaning and finishing of the diaphragm wall surface. In the coming weeks, after the floor is completed by the General Contractor, Soletanche Polska will dismantle the 11 struts temporarily securing the trench. 

Belgradzka 42 is the first residential investment that Soletanche Polska decided to accomplish with the use of polymer slurry in the production process. The company managed to successfully ensure the stability of the trench during the excavation as well as to obtain an even and full reinforcement cover of the diaphragm wall. Therefore, the cosmetic work pertaining to the diaphragm wall was reduced to the absolute minimum. 

“The application of polymer slurries can contribute to a reduction of the impact that geotechnical work has on the environment – polymers used in geotechnics are not hazardous substances, and slurries based on them exhibit a concentration lower by a factor of several dozen compared to traditional bentonite slurries, which translates into radically reduced quantities of spent materials. Due to their properties, polymer slurries offer relatively easy disposal and do not require the utilisation of equipment for the mechanical separation of their components”, explains Jan Raczko, Quality Engineer at Soletanche Polska. 

Soletanche Polska used the polymer slurries to stabilise the diaphragm wall trench during the construction of the C21-Bródno Warsaw subway station and the construction of the Nowy Rynek IV office building in Poznań. Currently, the company uses the polymer slurries during the erection of the Upper One office building in Warsaw.

• diaphragm wall depth: 8.1 – 10.3 m 

• diaphragm wall thickness: 0.5 m 

• site circumference: 139.44 running metres 

• number of barrettes (depth): 1 barrette with a depth of 8 m 

• number of struts: 11 

• total diaphragm wall surface in m²: 1201.05 m² 

• total volume of diaphragm wall concrete in m³: 668.79 m³ 

• total building area: 5301.03 m² 

• cubage: 15 839 m³ 

• structure height: 29.22 m 

• number of aboveground floors: 9 

• number of underground floors: 2 

• number of flats: 39 

• number of business spaces: 3 

• number of parking spots in the underground garage: 53