Basement Excavation for Seattle High-Rise

dbm_excavation

dbm_excavationLast week I attended the AEG 2013 conference in Seattle, Washington. The conference was excellent, with many great presentations and networking opportunities. I have been playing catch-up since I returned, but I have some very interesting things to blog about once I sit down and start writing. Keep watching!

One interesting thing was the view right outside my hotel window. I could see the construction site for a new high-rise building which is currently being excavated by DBM Contractors, a specialty geotechnical contractor based in Federal Way, Washington (Seattle Metro area). I didn’t see mention of this project on DBM’s website, but they did work on a similar project just a few blocks away. It looks like there are soldier pile lagging retaining walls with multiple levels of anchors. I imagine that once they finish the excavation, they will also construct the drilled shaft foundations for the structure as well. I’m guessing they performed some de-watering as well.

Maybe I got a little over-excited, but I don’t see these types of excavations too often in my geotechnical practice!