Bauer Foundations Canada was contracted by PCL for the installation of the foundation piles for towers E & A at the Edmonton Ice District (formerly known as Edmonton Arena District).

Two rigs were utilized for the piling operations: BG40 and BG50 (largest drill rig within the Bauer worldwide fleet). The foundation piles were constructed for the JW Marriott hotel (Tower A) and the Stantec tower (Tower E) which will be the tallest tower in western Canada with 66 floors. These towers will complement Edmonton’s ICE District which will be Canada’s largest mixed-use sports and entertainment district.

Bauer constructed 150 steel reinforced piles with diameters of 1.5m and 1.85m and lengths up to 75m using temporary segmental casing and polymer support fluid. A total of 2,900 tons of steeland 21,000m3 of 50 MPa grade concrete have been used during
construction. Prior to the installation of the working piles, two Oesterberg load tests were performed one of which was on a working pile 67m deep and tested up to a load of 47.2MN. The installed piles were tested with Cross-Hole Sonic logging (CSL) to confirm their integrity.

Construction of the piles occurred inside an 18m deep excavated pit which presented unique challenges in terms of heavy lifts (e.g. 250ton BG50 drill rig and daily deliveries of 16ton rebar cage sections), congested space and concreting which had to be done from street level by means of a line pump  or boom pump depending on the pile location. A special concrete mix design was developed by Bauer and the concrete supplier for this purpose.

Winterization of the polymer tank farm was required for the winter months when temperatures dropped to -30oC.To achieve the Client schedule, work was performed 24hrs per day over 6 days a week.Despite the unique challenges involved, the project was completed on time, budget and to the satisfaction of the client.