Geotechnical came back with tidal influence two metres above what the original report assumed. The conventional sequence — dewater, pour the whole ground slab, then go up — would have cost us six weeks waiting on tides and pump hire.
So we split the slab into three pours and started the upper-level structure over the completed sections while the last third was still being dewatered. It meant more formwork and an argument with the engineer, and it bought back five and a half weeks.
The tenant traded from the ground floor on 3 March. We were off site eight days later.
