Smartdeck is Van Elle’s piled raft foundation system for residential and commercial structures. Our foundation system delivers improved cost and programme certainty for foundations within the private and commercial sectors.

In comparison to other foundation solutions, Smartdeck reduces environmental impact by reducing spoil removal and the resulting vehicle movements, in turn also delivering a safer working environment on site.

What is the Smartdeck® piled raft Foundations system used for?

Smarkdeck eliminates the need for traditional pile and beam and strip foundations. It is suitable for all projects and construction types, including timber frame, sealed panels, or modular construction.

Smarkdeck can be constructed on improved or stabilised ground, drilled, driven, helical, or displacement piles and vibro stone columns.

To account for heave risk or suspected gas presence, Van Elle can provide a ground bearing slab or a voided system with ventilation.

Van Elle provides support throughout the entire process. The company’s expert operatives install piled raft foundations after the in-house design team creates custom, effective designs to fulfil the project requirements, such as building size, loadings, and ground conditions.

Smartdeck Process

A thorough site investigation is conducted to understand the soil profile, ecology, and conservation. Our team work with the client to deliver the best design that suits their preferred construction method.

Our capabilities enable us to provide ground improvement through various methods such as drilling and grouting, vibro stone columns, and rigid inclusions.

The selected groundworker would start by excavating to the required level and installing the designed piling mat. The pile locations are then set out according to the Smartdeck design.

Our services include a variety of piling techniques such as continuous flight auger (CFA), pre-cast driven, and tubular steel driven. We also construct in-situ pile caps based on bespoke designs.

The drainage and services are installed by your preferred ground worker and the piling mat is recovered. After the drainage and services have been installed the piles are made ready to be incorporated into the Smartdeck.

We install an engineered working surface to provide a level and consistent area for positioning shutters and installing steel reinforcement.

To create the Smartdeck, we first install the shuttering and then add the steel reinforcement. If voided, the decking will be built on a void former to create the void.

After conducting the necessary Q&A and checks, the Smartdeck is poured. Once the concrete slab has fully cured, we remove our reusable timber shutters.

Following the concrete pour, the finished slab is ready for trades within 5-7 days. In the case of voids, a void barrier will be attached once the slab has cured.

We provide our clients with a regulated product that has all the necessary accreditations to ensure their security.