National Buried Infrastructure Facility (NBIF) stands out with prestigious awards in 2024

National Buried Infrastructure Facility (NBIF) stands out with prestigious awards in 2024
UKCRIC Communications, Marketing and Events Manager (UCL)
29 January 2025

At the end of 2024, the National Buried Infrastructure Facility (NBIF), part of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC), at the University of Birmingham has once again demonstrated its excellence in cutting-edge research and innovation by receiving two prestigious awards, Institution of Civil Engineers West Midland Award in the Studies and Research Award category and the Federation of Piling Specialists (FPS) 60th Anniversary Awards 2024 in Sustainability category. These achievements celebrate NBIF’s state-of-the-art capabilities and its impact on advancing sustainable and practical solutions in civil engineering.

Federation of Piling Specialists (FPS) 60th anniversary Sustainability Award

A research project designed and conducted at the NBIF in collaboration with a team from Tensar, was the winner of the prestigious Sustainability Award at The Federation of Piling Specialists (FPS) 60th Anniversary Awards 2024. This project assessed the impact of using innovative geo-reinforcement for use in Temporary Working Platforms (TWPs). TWPs are used across the construction industry to support loading from heavy machinery and other construction plant. Whilst the traditional design methods include the use of high-quality quarried granular, this project used geogrids, to reduce the amount of fill material required and to improve the bearing capacity of the working platform. The use of NBIF’s state-of-the-art testing and instrumentation technologies was pivotal in delivering this project as it allowed to replicate a real scale construction site condition and reach full bearing capacity of the working platform under a controlled setting to assess the impact of the geogrid with high precision. The outcomes of this project achieved a 75% reduction in carbon and cost, demonstrating significant sustainability and environmental benefits.

The academic lead for the Tensar project was Professor Asaad Faramarzi supported by the NBIF research and technical team, including Dr Anna Faroqy, Dr Wuzhou Zhai, and Mr Kieran Hansard, alongside colleagues from Tensar. The awards ceremony took place in London towards the end of 2024 and was attended by leading professionals and academics from across the UK.

 

Temporary loading platform in NBIF
temporary loading platform in NBIF

Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) West Midlands Studies and Research Award 2024

 In September 2024, academics from the National Buried Infrastructure Facility (NBIF) were presented with an award in the Studies and Research Award category of the ICE West Midlands awards by ICE President Professor Anusha Shah for a recent project exploring the impact of polymer and bentonite slurries on bored piles, a construction technique used to transfer the weight of a structure above ground safely into the soil and rock below. 

 Funded by the Keller Group, KB International and Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering, the project explored how using polymer instead of bentonite as a support fluid could reduce the negative impacts using such fluids has on the mechanical performance of bored piles. Our innovative research compared skin friction resistance of bored piles, constructed at full-scale and under controlled conditions, using either polymer or bentonite fluids. Experimental pull-out tests were carried out on seven bored piles (300mm diameter, 4.5m length, C32/40 concrete). Full pile performance was monitored using vibrating-wire strain gauges and fibre optic distributed sensing technology. The tests conducted were the first of their kind using a large-scale laboratory set-up (10m by 5.8m by 5m) under controlled conditions. The findings will have a significant impact on pile design with the potential of using fewer and shorter piles using polymer, thereby saving on concrete and thus CO2 emissions.

NBIF team and some of the NBIF industrial partners at the ICE West Midland ceremony
NBIF team and some of the NBIF industrial partners at the ICE West Midland ceremony

On receiving the award, on behalf of NBIF, The Director, Professor Nicole Metje, said: “It was fantastic to see the work and collaboration recognised. It showed the benefits of using NBIF to provide a controlled test set-up. Our collaboration with the funders was excellent and attracted much interest.”

Professor Ian Jefferson, Principal Investigator on the projects said: “This was great example of NBIF in action, working in close collaboration with industrial partners to solve practical and timely problems faced in the sector.”

This marks the fourth time academics from the School of Engineering have been awarded with a prize by the Institution of Civil Engineers.