Helical piles are being positioned as an alternative to traditional drilled or spread concrete foundations for lattice and monopole communication towers, particularly where uplift, lateral loads and variable soils control design. Screw-in steel piles with helix plates can be installed with smaller rigs, generate minimal spoil, allow immediate loading and are removable at decommissioning, contrasting with large-diameter drilled shafts or pad-and-pier systems that require curing time and substantial excavation. The comparison focuses on sites with constrained access, weak or layered soils, and projects needing rapid deployment or future relocation.

Persimmon Homes has partnered with ground engineering technology firm Ecofill to re-use site-won excavated soils as engineered fill in adoptable roads, retaining walls, piling mats, embankments and trench backfills, displacing imported primary aggregates. Ecofill’s process allows classification and treatment of cohesive and granular arisings to meet highways and structural fill specifications, reducing soil sent to landfill and cutting lorry movements for aggregate haulage. The move signals wider potential for specification-compliant reuse of marginal soils on large housing schemes under UK earthworks and highway adoption standards.

Aarsleff Ground Engineering is promoting an integrated ground solution offer that combines vibro stone columns, rigid and hybrid inclusions, and driven precast piles into a single engineered package for each site. The firm targets projects with variable or weak soils, using mixed systems across a footprint to manage differential stiffness and keep floor slabs flat and frames within tolerance without multiple specialist contractors. For geotechnical and structural teams, the pitch is one design responsibility, coordinated load paths and programme certainty on brownfield or heterogeneous sites.