First of its Kind: Steel Sheet Piling Contributing to a Hydrostatic Barrier

The first hydrostatic barrier, consisting of a deep soil mix and steel sheet piling, lies beneath and around the 9.1 acres along South Miami Avenue, between 6th and 8th Street. This barrier allows for the planned excavation for construction of 2 levels of underground parking beneath the future Brickell City Center. Transforming the center of Miami's financial district will be 5.4 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, retail, and entertainment space.

To properly begin construction, developers had to insure a dry excavation. Due to a high groundwater table and the porous nature of this region a specifically engineered solution for this $1 billion project was developed. In July 2012, the beginning stages of the hydrostatic barrier were started. Once completed, the barrier would be applied to more than 3 city blocks before construction of the 2-level underground parking garage could begin. The massive underground parking garage, which spans over 7 acres underneath the total 9.1 acre property, was completed in February of 2014.

Above the parking garage will not only sit the shopping center, office space, hotel and apartments, but a 131,000+ square foot wellness center, over 800 condominiums and 2,400 parking spaces. To support architecture on such a grand scale, 100,000 tons of bulk cement was used to create deep soil mix plugs. These plugs would hold the sheet piles, preventing water from flowing up alongside the sheet piling during extensive excavation. After these plugs were set, cast piles for the future structure were installed to depths in excess of 100 feet. 

In order to accommodate the new building footprint, relocation of existing utilities had to take place. Some existing utilities had to be rerouted while others had to be taken out of service completely. The amount of coordination involved to complete this project was tremendous.  When dealing with contractors, subcontractors, consultants, project managers and so forth; decisions had to be made in hours and days, not weeks. It all just goes to show how an accelerated schedule can have effects on the need to get certain jobs completed by a set deadline.

This transformation of downtown is being done in 2 phases. The first phase is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2015. With such an aggressive timetable in place, crews have had to remain focused to keep on pace. Phase 2 is expected to initiate sometime in 2018. Upon completion, an engineering milestone will be responsible for the vast architecture genius that has taken place in downtown Miami.