Piles are more commonly used for deep basement construction, rather than domestic situations and come in various forms, but can be useful for the creation of retaining walls to facilitate excavation in areas of restricted access or close to site boundaries.
Secant or fair-faced contiguous piles can effectively become the outer wall of a Type C construction, or be faced with concrete or waterproofed to provide Type B or Type A protection. Further information on this and other forms of retaining structures can be found in The Concrete Centre technical publication ‘Concrete Basements'.
Please refer to Part A (Structure - Walls and foundations) of our building regulations guide for further information. All information correct as of 2013 amendments.