WINNING WITH
ATTITUDE
Westco Drilling & Piles Ltd. continues its success in deep foundations
By Kelly Gray
Westco Drilling & Piles Ltd. has been very successful
in the drilling and piling industry. The
company is committed to delivering quality
service with trained, professional personnel
that have the skill set to complete any project with their extensive
fleet of drilling and piling equipment.
Founded in 2004 and based out of Fort Macleod in southern
Alberta, Westco Drilling & Piles Ltd. was started by three
principals: Trevor Anderson, Derek O’Connor and Theo Van
Ee, who wanted to branch out from Westco Construction, a
company that builds pre-fabricated steel buildings, and into
offering cast-in-place (CIP) services.
According to Anderson, with the Fort Macleod firm,
Westco Drilling & Piles Ltd. started their new venture with
a Texoma 270 pressure digger and has since upgraded
and accumulated a fleet of various drill rigs, consisting of
Highway FD series drill rigs as well as a Watson drill rig. Both
truck and track mounts range in depths of 30 to 80 feet and
diameters of 16 to 84 inches.
“The most recent additions to Westco Drilling’s fleet are the
2012 SR50 Soilmec and the 2011 Liebherr LB20 pile driver,” said
Anderson. “The LB20 has increased the company’s scope
of work from CIP and continuous flight auger
(CFA) capabilities to introducing driven
pile foundations. The addition
of the SR50 has brought
along an increase
in depth
COMPANY PROFILE
of up to 130 feet and diameter of up to 10 feet with CFA
capabilities.”
Gaining traction
The new rigs opened several new doors for the company,
including allowing access to bigger, more complex projects.
“Since acquiring these rigs, we’ve been given the opportunity
to be a part of major projects, the most recent being the
Glenmore Improvement Project,” said Anderson.
On that project, the LB20 pile driver and Soilmec drill
rig were used to provide driven and drilled piles for the two
bridges being installed as part of the interchange. This project
consisted of five-foot-wide by 90-foot-long caissons, with
sectional casing used in upwards of 18m in length throughout
the upper sand lenses.
On the Glenmore Improvement Project, Westco Drilling
had to overcome various
obstacles to ensure
the work was
Ten Years of Piling Canada 71