Credit Valley Hospital

Credit Valley Hospital

Alternative to Save Time and Money

The Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, Ontario is undergoing a massive expansion and renovation. HC Matcon was brought in to undertake the shoring, underpinning, and caissons for this construction. The majority of the work included the drilling and installation of 222 concrete caissons, ranging between 24- and 84-inches in diameter. The original design required concrete-encased steel beams and conventional timber-lagged shoring adjacent to the operating hospital for support of the existing building and excavation. HC Matcon proposed an alternate to use vertical micropiles and shotcrete shoring in lieu of the above, which resulted in less disruption to the functioning hospital. The acceptance of this proposal also allowed a savings in cost and schedule time for the general contractor and owner. HC Matcon is able to overcome challenges while working with all parties involved to add value and cost savings to a project.

Client: Bondfield Construction
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Scarborough Hospital

Scarborough Hospital

A Design-Build Solution

The Scarborough Hospital was adding a new Critical Care Centre in the courtyard surrounded on all sides by existing hospital structures.

 HC Matcon’s scope of work included:

  • excavation of the new building foundation on pad footings
  • permanent shotcrete underpinning system to support surrounding structures
  • soldier pile and lagging wall to support a pedestrian walkway adjacent to pad footings and service manholes
  • demolition of service tunnels while maintaining operation and maintenance access for emergency services and hydro caissons to support new canopies and additions to existing structures.

At various points during construction, HC Matcon has been required to provide innovative design-build solutions to accommodate changes to the original design.

Client: EllisDon
Location: Scarborough, Ontario

The Bow

The Bow

The future Bow building, located in Calgary, Alberta Canada, is an innovation in both architectural and shoring design. At 58 stories and with a footprint of two city blocks, The Bow will be the largest building in Canada west of Toronto. It will be an impressive addition to the Calgary skyline and will serve to redevelop the east side of Calgary’s downtown. With 850 caissons to be drilled, combined with extensive shotcrete, there will be 13,200m2 of total shoring implemented for the construction of The Bow. This is the largest shoring job of its kind in western Canada. HCM Contractors Inc. is proud to be part of the team constructing this ground breaking new building for Calgary.

For this project, Ontario based excavation-shoring, foundation specialty contractor HC Matcon Inc. expanded into the Alberta market as the newly incorporated company HCM Contractors Inc. A new team was formed to build HCM Contractors Inc. from both experienced HC Matcon Inc. employees and new hires. Now based in Calgary, HCM Contractors Inc. brings with it the expertise that has made HC Matcon Inc. respected in the Ontario specialty shoring market.

HCM Contractors Inc. has invested heavily in new equipment for this shoring project. With the purchase of two new state of the art piling drills, the Bauer BG2 24 and Casagrande B250, HCM Contractors Inc. has risen to the forefront of caisson drilling in Calgary. The two machines allow HCM Contractors Inc. to handle jobs of impressive size. Purchases include a two Casagrande M9 drills for drilling tiebacks as well as additional foundation equipment.

With design from Toronto based Isherwood Associates, HCM Contractors Inc. is introducing the Berlin wall method of shoring to the Calgary construction market. The Berlin wall method involves a combination of caisson wall and shotcrete. The soil conditions in Calgary are unique due to the city’s glaciated geological history. The soil is composed mainly of gravel and cobbles– transitioning to rock layers of mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone. No one shoring system is ideally suited to all layers. The Berlin wall method allows the shoring system to be tailored to the variable soil conditions of Calgary while still passing on a significant cost saving to the customer. The caisson wall, completely enclosing two city blocks, penetrates the lower rock to cut off water in the gravel and eliminates all upper ground loss, unlike what would be typical of lagging systems. At the same time, the caisson wall provides greater stiffness and controls the movement of the shoring wall. At lower depths, the rock requires less support and caissons are not needed– anchored shotcrete provides an optimal solution.

HCM Contractors Inc. is employing a full survey crew to guarantee millimeter accuracy throughout the shoring installation. Our team utilizes a total station system with targets on the bottom and top of each pile as well as on neighboring buildings. This ensures precision with the caisson layout and implementation of the shoring system. The project also includes the installation of twelve vertical inclinometers and twelve rock extensometers. This is the first time that rock extensometers have been used in construction in western Canada. These instruments provide us with sub millimeter data on movement within the shoring system. With precision monitoring of moments during excavation allows for additional anchors to be installed on an as required basis.

 

Client: Matthews Southwest

Location: Calgary, Alberta

St. Joseph’s Health Centre Parking

St. Joseph's Health Centre Parking

Shotcrete Reduces Costs for Owner

The St. Joseph’s Health Centre is adding a new Our Lady of Mercy wing complete with three levels of underground parking.

HC Matcon was responsible for:

  •  installing the approximately 20,000 square feet of zero clearance shotcrete and caisson wall to be used as a back form for the foundation walls.
  • 121 caissons to support the foundation perimeter and new ambulance bay canopy drilled with a Watson 3110.

HC Matcon’s alternative shotcrete shoring solution added value to the project with a substantial cost savings to the owner.

Client: Harbridge and Cross
Location: Toronto, Ontario

Guelph Civic Administration Complex

Guelph Civic Administration Complex

Complex Shoring Requires Innovative Design

Work on this site involved the supply and installation of caissons, underpinning, rock anchors, as well as both traditional soldier pile and lagging and shotcrete shoring systems.

  • Shoring designs were required to incorporate work next to the existing CN passenger rail tracks and the historical heritage buildings being developed into the new structure design.
  • Due to the nature and age of the buildings impacted by the work shoring design required flexibility of design while maintaining and adhering to the strict tolerances required by the specifications.

The combination of the shoring systems in conjunction with the design capacity for on site modifications allowed the excavation to be completed uniformly across the site and helped to accelerate the construction schedule.

Client: Urbacon Ltd
Location: Guelph, Ontario

Niagara Biosolids Facility – Inside Pit

Niagara Biosolids Facility - Inside Pit

A Shotcrete Solution to a Difficult Problem

Work to the existing Biosolids Facility required the installation of deep pits and foundations for proposed processing equipment.

  • Due to the tight confines of the site and the proximity of exterior walls, columns and footings, the use of a traditional soldier pile and lagging system was not feasible.
  • Instead, a shotcrete shoring and underpinning solution was developed in conjunction with the Owner and the General Contractor.
  • By working with the forming contractor, a zero clearance solution was used as the backside of the new form work.
  • In addition to vertical cut stability, the shotcrete was also designed to provide underpinning stabilization to the undermined column pad footings and exterior wall footings.
  • By placing strategically located vertical mini piles at and around the pad footings, the additional stabilization was achieved.

The use of the shotcrete solution in this application allowed the General Contractor to minimize disturbance and disruption to the ongoing facility operations.

Client: Stucor Construction Ltd
Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario

Mill Pond Estates

Mill Pond Estates

Shotcrete: Low Cost and Overcoming Hillside Access Issues

This 12,000 sq. ft. project involved temporary hillside shoring for a developer in Tillsonburg.

  • The project was completed during winter months with winter protection of panels and concrete and special measures by HC Matcon designed for winter conditions.
  • The shotcrete shoring solution was both low cost and viable due to the hillside access issues. The final building is designed to take the hillside load through concrete shear walls and footings.
  • Soil nail walls do not involve stressing the anchors, while HC Matcon practices the Vancouver method of Shotcrete shoring which used strict panel sequences with post tensioning of anchors to reduce movement.
  • Total station monitoring can track vertical and horizontal movement of the typical Shotcrete shoring wall by fixing targets to the shoring wall as it is constructed. Work proceeds in 5-6 Ft. vertical lifts, so a project schedule is typically the height of cut, divided by 5 in weeks.

Client: Mill Pond Estates
Location: Tillsonburg, Ontario

Paruk Residence

Paruk Residence

Overcoming Poor Soil-Bearing Capacity

The Paruk Residence is a high end two story structure, located at 24 York Valley Crescent in North York, Ontario, just north of the Don River. A geotechnical investigation performed by Patriot Engineering revealed very poor soil bearing capacity, unsuitable for a slab-on-grade or strip footing foundation.

  • The floor slab was designed as a structural slab supported on grade beams resting on helical pier foundations. The helical piers were 2-7/8 inch diameter, 55 ksi minimum yield strength, galvanized, and supplied by Ideal Group.
  • The helical piers were designed for a maximum 30 kips working load, which was achieved at a torque resistance of approximately 9,000 ft. lbs. Using a 17,000 ft. lbs. McMillen drive unit, 94 piers were installed in 3 days.

HCM also did the excavation, perimeter shotcrete shoring and U/S stone placement c/w geotextile, which helped construction access and provided a clean surface for the concrete form work contractor.

Client: HC Matcon
Location: Toronto, Ontario

 

 

Smith Residence

Smith Residence

Toronto’s First Permanent Soil Nail Wall

This project involved a hillside lot and a high end home in Toronto. The installation was the first permanent soil nail wall used in Toronto.

  • Micro piles were used to support a cantilever canopy on one level and HC Matcon completed the full excavation, shoring and footings as a package to the owner.
  • The shoring design called for over sized MAI bars due to low corrosive soil, and a 100 year plus life is expected.
  • The house construction is wood framed which was a lower cost than steel/concrete in that hillside loads over time are taken by the shoring system, which is 150 mm from the house walls.
  • The advantages of shotcrete shoring include smaller equipment to access and do the nails, as typical shoring solution involved large equipment and high costs to build working berms on a hillside lot.

Owners of land that was typically considered unsuitable as building lots can re consider and realize hidden value with permanent soil nail walls constructed by HC Matcon. HCM is a full service Design Build Specialist contractor.

Client: HC Matcon
Location: Toronto, Ontario

Brantford General Hospital

Brantford General Hospital

This innovative project represents the first use of shotcrete shoring in place of caisson walls against a building in Ontario. Caisson walls have typically been utilized duw to low movements from the inherent stiffness of the shoring wall. Soldier Piles and lagging walls may move up to 25 mm if properly designed, while caisson walls will move as little as 4-6mm. The soil was a poorly graded medium grained sand which required special measures, including vertical mini piles for vertical load restraint and face savings (avoid ground loss). A significant savings to the General Contractor resulted and the project was a technicall success, in that the maximum inclinometer movement was 4mm. This 4mm achievement signals a new opportunity for owners and General Contractors as the shotcrete shoring space savings and costs saving is very real. 

This project supported an 8 storey hospital, with critical operating rooms, and the shotcrete shoring solution provided a vibration free installation with no structural damages to the owner’s hospital.

Location: Brantford, Ontario

Customer: Bondfield Construction Company