Engineering Challenge: Slab Strengthening Works, Wolverhampton

We were appointed to investigate the condition of a section of a suspended ground-floor concrete slab over a basement to a retail unit in Wolverhampton. The slab showed clear signs of deterioration, including spalling concrete and reinforcement corrosion caused by water ingress.

Following our inspection and report, the remedial design included:
🛠️To keep the busy retail unit fully operational, replacement of the slab was not feasible, so we designed a system of strengthening and enhancement works that comprised a new steel support frame, supported on columns on new concrete plinths and padstones built into the existing masonry walls.
🧱 Stitching of cracked loadbearing masonry using Helifix (trading as Leviat) Helibars.
🧩 Application of a specialist concrete repair system to remediate the corroded reinforcement and the spalled concrete slab soffit.

These structural interventions were essential in ensuring the ongoing safety of the retail unit.

📸 The first image shows temporary acro-props in place during early works, while the second shows our steel layout drawing and the completed installation.