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

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

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

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

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

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.