Rachael Severn, Staff Engineer, and Antonio Mencarini, Manager of Field Operations
Construction of the neurosciences laboratory (Building 19a) at the UCSF Mission Bay campus is underway. Reclaimed in the 1880s, the Building 19a site in the new UCSF Mission Bay campus is underlain by heterogeneous fill, weak and compressible Bay Mud, dense sand, and bedrock. The site development will consist of a new five-story building to house the laboratory facilities. Cary Ronan, PE, GE, Senior Engineer, and Lori Simpson, PE, GE, Principal, have been providing geotechnical services on this project since 2004 and are pleased to see the project go to construction.
Tubex pile installation
Adjacent to UCSF’s Rock Hall, which houses sensitive laboratory work, noise and vibrations from pile driving was disallowed. Therefore, non-grout injected Tubex piles are being installed for foundation support. The piles are steel and concrete pipe composite piles that are screwed into the ground under high torque and down-pressure.
Our field team provided construction observation services during installation of indicator piles and performance of compression, uplift, and lateral load tests. We are currently providing observation during production pile installation.
Treadwell & Rollo also provided engineering design services for the building’s methane mitigation system due to the presence of elevated methane concentrations in soil gas beneath the site. The mitigation system is designed to prevent intrusion of methane gas into the structure and is comprised of a methane barrier beneath the building slab which is underlain by a collection and venting system. The design details are coordinated with the building architectural, structural and mechanical features to be integral to the building features. Follow-up services will include observation and documentation of the system construction, and preparation of an operation and maintenance plan.
