The Chairman, opening the discussion, said that the Institution had received an interesting letter from Sir Edwin McAlpine, parts of which were pertinent to the discussion and which he would read. Sir Edwin had said that he very much regretted that owing to a previous engagement he was prevented from attending the meeting, but took the opportunity of calling attention to a few of the more unusual aspects of the very large scheme. The letter then continued:
‘ First and foremost, I think some of the problems in foundations on this site gave very good opportunities for improving our knowledge of the use of cylinder piles, for example the special treatment of the retaining wall adjacent to the Kings Scholars’ Pond Sewer. Secondly, the decision to use a dewatering system instead of steel sheet piling for the pile cap raft supporting Block A, which resulted in a saving in time and
money and also eliminating the troubles of noise nuisance which are engendered by driving steel sheet piling in an area such as this.‘