in parking garages, etc. It depends on the site and the
application. In London, they saved the owner money
over traditional deep piling foundations.”
To date, EBS has installed more than 60,000 helical
piles, mostly in Ontario. Vito is a fan of their flexibility
and benefits.
“Helical piles are modular. They can be shipped to
remote locations or down the street, and installed in
almost any type of weather. You can keep adding extensions
to reach dense load bearing soils; we have installed
FEATURE
Installing Chance square shaft helical piles to
accommodate the addition of a mezzanine level to
the interior of the Amazon warehouse in Toronto
helical piles to depths of 55 metres. You can use all
sorts of equipment to install helical piles, from portable
equipment like skid steers and mini-excavators to large
excavators – you can tailor the equipment to what’s
required,” he said.
More has happened with helical piles over the last five
years than in the previous 20, says Vito. It all comes down
to increasing the helical pile load capacity while remaining
cost effective. A particular area of concentration is
improving the grouting techniques around square shaft
PILING CANADA 19
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