BAUER Foundations Canada Inc. was contracted by Stuart Olson Construction to install foundation piles for Phase 1 of the New Central Library, adjacent to Calgary City Hall in downtown Calgary. Phase 1 of the New Central Library consisted of encapsulating the existing Light Rail Transit (LRT) line that crosses the project site. To support the encapsulating structure and loads of the future library, BAUER Foundations Canada Inc. installed bored concrete piles on each side of the LRT line.

A BAUER BG 28 rotary drill rig was used to install 54 bored piles, with diameters of 1,300 mm, 1,650 mm and 2,000 mm, and depths up to 29 m. Soil conditions were 3 m of fill, followed by 6 m of gravel and then bedrock. The 2,000 mm piles of 29 m depth required an embedment of 20 m into bedrock.

Protective fencing was provided by BFCA to protect LRT trains from debris during drilling. Safety procedures were also implemented during lifting and placing fulllength reinforcing cages.

Concrete was placed using tremie pipes, and the groundwater displaced by concreting was contained for disposal off site.