2017
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Sika®Pave, a unique paving bedding and grouting system from Sika Limited, was used for laying the large areas of granite slabs around the stunning new Riverside Museum, Scotland’s Museum of Transport and Travel, located on the waterfront at Pointhouse Quay on the River Clyde in Glasgow.
Riverside Transport Museum replaces the previous museum, which had been situated at Kelvin Hall since 1987, attracting around half a million visitors a year. As the museum’s collection expanded, Glasgow City Council decided to relocate to a new facility specially designed for the purpose. Its location is a testament to Glasgow’s rich industrial heritage, which stems largely from the River Clyde. This exciting new venue was designed by award winning international architect Zaha Hadid, who is renowned for her contemporary and futuristic designs.
Project Requirements
Because of their size and weight, the large granite slabs provided a challenge to the contractors, Land Engineering, to bed them evenly in place and allow following trades to traffic them during the construction process without causing damage.
Sika Solutions
Land Engineering in conjunction with Sika proposed the Sika®Pave system which, following extensive trials was adopted for the project.
The Sika®Pave system overcomes failure problems associated with traditional bedding systems. In the Sika®Pave system, a spherical lightweight aggregate is used as a bedding medium rather than using a bedding mortar. This allows the bedding to be carried out regardless of weather, as there is no cementitious product to be affected. The round nature of the aggregate makes for easy bedding of the slabs. (For large joints of over 15mm width, the aggregate can also be used to partially fill the joints). The whole system is then post-grouted with SIka®Pave NF grout from a mixer/pump unit. This is a high performance, shrink compensated grout, which at a high flow level, percolates through the aggregate down to the base layer, bonding the whole system together.
The main advantage of this system is that there is no bond to fail between the slabs and the bedding material, as it becomes a totally homogenous base. A number of tests were carried out prior to construction to prove that the Sika®Pave NF grout had successfully flowed and encapsulated the voidage under the slabs.
