information, significant ground loss
and the clay soil around the tunnel
losing strength, “under intense
schedule pressure while a major civil
engineering project was on hold,”
Ansari said. That work, which was
accomplished quickly and safely,
earned the company the Deep
Foundations Institute Best Project
award for their design involvement.
More recently, the company’s use of
finite element modelling and electrolevel
technology on a project adjacent
to Toronto’s subway line, enabled it to
predict the subway’s movements to
within a millimetre’s accuracy.
“Cutting back on detailed soils
investigation and monitoring increase
the risk to all stakeholders – and, I
would argue, cost the industry tens
of millions of dollars annually,” said
Ansari, and clients often get the firm
involved at the earliest stage possible –
often even before land is acquired – to
help in decision-making and mitigate
long-term risk.
IGE has archived each of its projects
in an ever-growing GIS database,
including information on what exactly
has been unearthed, the unique systems
the company has designed over
a 45-year period and their subsequent
real-world performance. It’s a “library”
that represents hundreds of thousands
of hours of experience.
“Before we provide a proposal for a
client’s upcoming project, we can see
how adjacent sites in our database
behaved and know if we should tweak
it one way or another – it’s a process
of continual investigation and refinement,”
and all part of the company’s
due diligence homework, he said.
“When clients start to dig, we have
to make sure our design considers the
types of soil we are dealing with, water
tables and what kind of urban infrastructure
is underground,” Ansari said.
“It’s quite possible you’ll have underground
rivers, in a glacial area you
could have boulders and on reclaimed
land you know there can be existing
rock cribs, structures and various other
objects that complicate the design and
construction. We research the site to
minimize unpleasant surprises, but it
is impossible to know exactly what and
where they are.”
In Toronto, excavation has unearthed
old timber building foundations and
dock walls, cars and boats, a box of
muskets, and even, at Pier 27 at the foot
of Yonge Street, an old munitions shell
from a Second World War ammunitions
depot. “That stopped work – when you
find these things unexpectedly, it just
adds to the challenge,” he said, adding
that alternative solutions are developed
to address changing site conditions.
“They keep us on our toes.”
Every site has unique
constraints that benefit
from creative thinking
Urban sites are getting tighter and
deeper, and on many of the historical
structures must be preserved, all
of which means support, design and
COMPANY PROFILE
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