The piling process to provide the foundations for Everton’s new stadium has progressed into the sand-filled dock.

Until now, 1,018 of the 20-metre-deep concrete piles, which will be capped off to support the overground structure, have been confined to the northern and southern wharves of Bramley-Moore dock.

Following the ongoing laying of a 300mm-thick recycled stone piling mat, to support heavy machinery, work has now begun within the dock to create 1,300 more supporting piles on the East and West elevations, and within the stadium bowl.

Danial Jones, Project Manager for Laing O’Rourke’s concrete frame and sub-structure specialist business, Expanded, explained: “The piling taking place within the dock is the final stage of piling for the stadium structure and will help to transfer the loads from above ground to the underlying sandstone.

“The piling platform has been laid for the past week and a half, in preparation for us to get to bring our machinery on there.

“Yesterday, we finally made a start on the piling works in the North West area of the dock.”

The existing piling rig will soon be joined by a second to speed up the process, which is expected to be completed by May.

Jones added: “Piling on the north and south of the dock has felt like we were working on quite a narrow site, but it feels like we’ve got a nice big open field now the dock itself is available.

“We've already installed in the region of 1,000 piles and there's another 1,300 to install for the for the main stands, so we're closing on the halfway point and you'll see that these will be expedited because we have that second rig to speed things up.

“It's almost like the stadium taking shape now rather than just working on the edges, and although piling is quite short in duration, for me this is quite a long job.

“We’ve been on site since October with the one rig, so it's the best part of a year for us.

“But I’m local and an Evertonian, so it's a flagship project for myself and one I’m proud to be involved in.”

Once piling in the dock is complete, workers will shift their focus to the remaining piling works around the vicinity of the stadium. This includes a piled wall which, later in the construction programme, will help create a water channel on the western perimeter of the stadium as a reminder of the site’s heritage as a working dock, while also providing water connectivity to adjacent docks and an opportunity to create a new ecological habitat.