<\/a>One unique aspect of this project is the\u00a0top-down construction\u00a0sequence. Once the foundation is poured, work will begin on the\u00a0six-story high-rise superstructure while E.E. Cruz simultaneously\u00a0excavates 100,000 cubic yards of soil 60 feet below grade and\u00a0constructs two sub-basement floors.<\/p>\n\u201cAs we dig down, the slab will be poured and we will continue to\u00a0mine underneath it,\u201d says Pat Roach, general superintendent on\u00a0the project and a 14-year veteran of E.E. Cruz.<\/p>\n
Owner Columbia University went with top-down construction\u00a0because of access constraints.\u00a0\u201cIn conventional excavation you\u2019d use braces or tie backs for the\u00a0walls. But you\u2019d need 300-foot tiebacks in some places, which\u00a0we can\u2019t do here due to property line constraints,\u201d says Mark. \u00a0\u201cPlus, they\u2019ll build vertically while we excavate below, so it\u2019s also a\u00a0schedule saver.\u201d<\/p>\n
Construction in New York City presents a host of challenges for\u00a0E.E. Cruz. The site is next to an active, above-ground subway line,
\nwhich complicated crane operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to work parallel to the panels because the crane cannot\u00a0be in a position to potentially damage the adjacent rail line,\u201d\u00a0advises Pat Roach.\u00a0\u201cCranes are highly scrutinized, especially when you\u2019re working with\u00a0a long boom crane on a site like this,\u201d says Mark.<\/p>\n
Below ground, there are more hidden challenges for the team.\u00a0Manhattanville was once a \u00a0bustling industrial and manufacturing\u00a0area, and more recently was occupied by warehouses and gas\u00a0stations. Before slurry walls are constructed, teams excavate 18\u00a0feet from the surface to remove debris left over from previous\u00a0structures, as well as contaminated soil from a previous gas\u00a0station.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are old buildings, basement floors, basement walls\u2014we\u00a0take out tons of stuff,\u201d says Del.\u00a0The new development, of which this is just one building, will take\u00a025 years to complete and add 6.8 million square feet of new\u00a0space for teaching, academic research, parking, facilities support\u00a0and commercial space.<\/p>\n
In mid-March, the E.E. Cruz and Nicholson joint venture team was\u00a0awarded a $44 million contract for phase two of the project, which\u00a0involves constructing another 206,000 square feet of diaphragm wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since January 2011, E.E. Cruz has been\u00a0building foundations for the Jerome L. Greene Science Center,\u00a0the first part of Columbia University\u2019s ambitious Manhattanville\u00a0project, a new 17-acre campus expansion…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[127,150,181,183,264,277,282,419,472],"class_list":["post-1613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-news","tag-columbia-university","tag-e-e-cruz","tag-flatiron-construction","tag-flatiron-corporation","tag-manhattanville-project","tag-new-york-city","tag-nicholson-construction-company","tag-top-down-construction-sequence","tag-underground"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1613"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}