Abstract: An inflatable flood defence structural unit is described for creating an inflatable flood defence arrangement. The unit comprises at least one inflatable chamber comprising a front wall and a rear wall which extend in a substantially parallel orientation. At least one of the front and rear walls provide a water barrier, and a first and second end wall are arranged to couple the front and rear walls together at a respective first and second end of the front and rear walls. The unit further comprises a first inflatable buttress which is rigidly bonded at a proximal end thereof to the rear wall of the chamber, proximate the first end of the chamber and which extends in a direction which is away from the chamber, and a second inflatable buttress which is rigidly bonded at a proximal end thereof to the rear wall of the chamber, proximate the second end of the chamber, and which similarly extends in a direction which is away from the chamber.

Abstract: A building anchor system includes a pair of elongate anchor rods (1,2), an anchor rod coupling joint (3) for joining the anchor rods end-on-end, the anchor rod coupling joint comprising or including a sleeve (4, 5, 6 & 7) for connection to an end of one of the anchor rods (1) a slideable arm (8) receivable in the sleeve for connection to an end of the other anchor rod (2) a closed slot within the arm or sleeve for slideably receiving the free end of a stop member (13) by which movement of the anchor rods along their major axis is possible to the extent allowed by the length of the slot, and frictional adjustment means (6,7) acting between the arm and the sleeve by which they may be joined and by which the force required to move them with respect to each other can be selectively varied. The invention also extends of a method of preventing or inhibiting catastrophic structural failure of a building by installing one or more anchor systems of the type described.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method of reinforcing a structure (10) having an elongate hole (14) or drilling the hole having an open proximal end (11) and a closed distal end (16). The method comprises the steps of inserting into the open end of the hole an elongate reinforcement core (20) carrying over at least part of its length an expandable sock (30), introducing a settable liquid (40), such as grout, into the sock at a first pressure so as to cause expansion of the sock toward the wall (18) of the hole (14), the sock being formed from a material which is permeable to the grout so as to allow the liquid to seep through the sock, reducing the pressure in the hole by means of a vacuum tube (23), whilst said introducing step is taking place, to at least a second pressure lower than the first pressure so as to encourage the grout to seep through the sock, to substantially fill the hole.

Abstract: A structure for example a blast protection structure (1) is provided formed by the inflation of one or more containers (2, 3, 4) and (5) which are then filled with a settable cement or other material to provide a rigid free-standing structure. Roof members (8, 9, 10, 11 and 12) (FIGS. 2 and 3) may be provided also. The roof is formed by inflating roof supports (8, 9) and (10), forming a further roof member (11) from settable cement material above the roof supports (8, 9) and (10), deflating the roof supports (8, 9) and (10) when the further roof member (11) has set to leave the further roof member (11) in place and forming a structural roof member (12) above the roof member (11). The containers and/or inflatable supports may be formed from dropstitch material which provides internal reinforcing. The invention allows free-standing rigid structures to be produced without the need for conventional formwork.

Abstract: According to the invention, there is provided a blast mitigation device (1) comprising one or more inflatable, rigidisable, free-standing arched frames comprised of one or more compartments (4, 4a), the or each compartment being fillable, in use, with a gaseous medium under pressure, and one or more water-fillable containers (3, 3a) supported or supportable by the or each free standing frame, which water-fillable container(s) form a blast mitigation structure in use.

Abstract: A blast protection structure is formed of one or more bags, generally shown as (1) in FIG. 2. Such bags comprise an upper and lower compartment, with the lower compartment having a reinforcing layer (2), preferably formed of an impact reactant structure such as Kevlar®. The upper surface (3) of the upper compartment, has a non-slip coating to provide improved stacking of bags. Such bags can be used to provide blast protection structures to minimize the risk of damage from an explosion.

Abstract: Shelters as shown in FIG. 3, are constructed by filled bags (1), which typically have a trapezoidal cross-section. Such bags are divided into several compartments by internal webs (3) and can be laid over an arched lining (2). In end view, the bags are slightly wedge-shaped so that they resemble stones following the curve of a masonry arch, and the webs (3) follow the curve of the arch so that there is an inner compartment (4), a middle compartment (5), and an outer compartment (6) in each bag. In addition to shelters, the bags can be used to build barriers formed of courses of bags, with at least one side of the barrier having a corbelled out portion.