Geotechnical Challenges at Encore Boston Harbor

Geotechnical Challenges at Encore Boston Hotel

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Tufts University

200 College Ave.

Medford, MA

5:30 PM-9:00 PM

Featuring:

Mary B. Hall P.E., Senior Principal, GZA

Michael P. Smith, P.E., Project Manager, GZA

The site’s approximately 32-acre property was occupied by the Monsanto Chemical Company and other chemical companies from the late 1800s until the late 1960s. During this time period, the local salt marsh was filled, extending the original shoreline out toward and around an island within the Mystic River. The buildings on the property were razed in the 1970s and the property used primarily as a material storage and staging yard since the mid-1990s, when rock and low-permeability muck (tunnel muck) from the construction of the Deer Island Outfall project were stockpiled on it and later spread out.

The Encore Boston Harbor resort consists of a 29-story tower as well as a low-rise structure across the remainder of the building’s footprint.  With a large portion of the building footprint constructed over a multilevel below grade garage, groundwater control was an important issue for both construction and for building design.  Given the variety of building loads and highly variable subsurface conditions across the site, multiple foundation types were utilized for the building’s foundations including: load bearing elements to support the tower; slurry walls and mat foundations to support the building across the below grade garage; precast prestressed concrete piles and drilled micropiles to support building across the at-grade portions; and rock anchors to help resist hydrostatic uplift pressures on the below grade garage. 

The project also included the construction of a new waterfront and landscaped open space. These site improvements included demolition of historic shoreline features, installation of steel bulkhead and pile supported wharf structure as well as a floating dock system.  Due to the soft soils at the site, a timber pile supported load-transfer platform with lightweight fill was used for raises in grade behind the bulkhead and EPS foam blocks were used to raise site grades in the landscape areas to mitigate long-term settlement. 

Registration Deadline: Wednesday, December 5, 2018 
$75 Members, $85 Non-Members
$65 Public Sector Members, $75 Public Sector Non-Members
$25 Senior Members (65+), Students

Register to attend this meeting and pay by credit card online by clicking the Register button at the top of the page. To register online for an event at the BSCES member rate you must login using your BSCES assigned username and password. If you do not know your BSCES member login information call 617/227-5551. You can also register for this event by mail or email. To do so, download and complete a BSCES Event Registration Form and follow the submission instructions. Cancellations received after December 5, 2018 and no-shows will be billed.

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