Category: Media

Three years after establishing its Ann Arbor office, Troy-based geotechnical engineering services firm G2 Consulting Group is doubling its space here and adding staff.

The geotechnical, geoenvironmental, and construction engineering services firm’s work revolves primarily around testing soil, rock, and groundwater for building projects and developing solutions to the challenges the resulting data may present. G2 will move from a 2,700-square-foot space at 1590 Eisenhower Place to a 7,900-square-foot space at 1350 Eisenhower Place at the end of April.

“We’re at a point in our old office that, even if we wanted to hire another engineer, technician, or scientist, we don’t have a desk or chair to put them in,” says Jason Stoops, the firm’s Ann Arbor office manager. “We talked about whether we wanted to stay the same size and service the clients we’re already working for or try to expand our client base. But if we want to expand, we need staff to do that.”

Stoops says the new location has more space than the Ann Arbor office currently needs. However, the office is expecting to add at least four new staff members and warehouse some equipment on site, allowing Ann Arbor to be more of a full-service engineering firm instead of just a satellite office to the Troy headquarters.

G2 has worked on several major projects since opening in Ann Arbor. The Ann Arbor office’s first big project was the Arbor Hills shopping center on Washtenaw Avenue. The firm has since worked on Bank of Ann Arbor’s headquarters renovation and the downtown Ann Arbor Residence Inn by Marriott.

Although the firm is headquartered just an hour’s drive away, Stoops says G2 has worked hard to engage with the Ann Arbor community. A May open house for the new facility will feature Arbor Brewing Co. beverages and Zingerman’s food.

“We’re trying to create the feel that we’re culturally in step with Ann Arbor,” Stoops says.

Stoops raises the possibility that another three years might bring more exciting news for G2. The firm is currently considering opening another office in Ohio or western Michigan.

“We’re hoping to take the success of our Ann Arbor office to other markets,” Stoops says.

G2 Consulting Group, a nationally recognized Troy, Michigan-based geotechnical environmental and construction engineering services firm, is part of the construction team that earned two separate industry awards for the Downtown Fenton Streetscape and Road Reconstruction project.

Downtown Fenton retains much of its historical charm while offering modern shopping, dining and lifestyle experiences. The city was looking to improve portions of its streetscape and hired Champagne & Marx as general contractor and OHM Advisors as project engineer.

G2 Consulting managed all aspects of geotechnical exploration during the design phase of the project and provided quality assurance materials testing during project construction. Eastlund Concrete Construction performed the site concrete work and Modern Concrete provided the concrete materials.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) SE Michigan branch named the project the “James F. Bliskey, P.E. Quality of Life Project of the Year” winner at its annual meeting. Also, the Michigan Concrete Association recognized the team in its “Municipal Flatwork” category with an award during its annual meeting.

In both cases, the significant enhancements to the downtown area, including work on the water mains, sanitary and storm sewer, roadway pavement and sidewalks, now fully ADA compliant, were noted as exceptional. As a result, there is an improved quality of life for residents and visitors to Fenton. It’s hoped that the improvements will encourage more development in adjacent neighborhoods.

“At G2 Consulting Group, our mantra is Smart. Results. Fast.,” said Jim Berry, project manager. “These two awards are a nice tribute to the collaborative nature of the project and our ability to help the City of Fenton continue to enhance its vibrant downtown area.” Berry noted that G2 Consulting has been involved in several urban redevelopment projects for local municipal clients, including the cities of Birmingham, Auburn Hills and Southfield.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has named G2 Consulting Group, a nationally recognized Troy-based geotechnical, environmental and construction services firm, as one of its pre-approved engineering teams through a two-year “as-needed” indefinite services contract for state-wide projects.

“Year in and year out, MDOT tackles many of the largest and most complex engineering projects imaginable,” said Mark Smolinski, one of the G2 Consulting principals. “So, we take our opportunities to work alongside MDOT very seriously and believe that earning our second consecutive state-wide contract is a reflection of the results we deliver.”

G2’s recent efforts with MDOT include the M-20 replacement bridge over the Tittabawassee River in Midland. “The M-20 bridge carries a heavy load of daily traffic over a river and a former rail line converted into a nature trail. In order to maintain traffic as long as possible, numerous foundation types were evaluated that would allow partial construction of foundations before traffic closures were required. G2’s role relates to understanding those geotechnical and environmental factors in support of the bridge construction plan,” said Dave Wanlass, G2’s project manager.

In the recent past, G2 has partnered with MDOT on many notable projects including; I-75/University interchange, I-94/I-69 interchange in St. Claire County, I-94/Cadillac bridge and the I-96 Reconstruction to name just a few.

Road reconstruction and infrastructure improvements continue to be a top priority for Michigan state officials. In addition to providing a more efficient and safer transportation network, the state sees economic opportunities in growing Michigan’s role as a logistics center.

“We have the know-how and capability to bring added value to road design and construction,” said Smolinski. “With all the infrastructure work being done in Michigan these days, our goal is always to deliver on our promise of Smart. Results. Fast. This new contract will hopefully bring even more opportunities to do just that.”

G2 is licensed to work in over 35 states and has completed thousands of public and private projects, including commercial, industrial, transportation, telecommunications and civil infrastructure developments over its two decades in business.

After years of debate, in late 2015 Governor Snyder and the Michigan legislature passed a road funding bill to address the state’s crumbling roads, bridges and infrastructure. Included in that bill is…[Read More]

The country club where the late Arnold Palmer had what he called the turning point in his legendary golf career is at a turning point of its own.

The Country Club of Detroit, on 212 acres in Grosse Pointe Farms, is scheduled soon to complete a $9 million renovation of its Tudor Revival-style clubhouse to add a fitness center and move bowling lanes to the bottom level of the building.

Palmer, who died Sept. 25, took his first step toward golf greatness on the club’s 18-hole course with a 1954 U.S. Amateur victory at the 119-year-old club, which says its construction efforts are designed to provide year-round amenities to its 800-plus members who are paying about $100 per month extra in dues to pay for the construction.

“Country clubs generally concentrate on the 100 days of summer we have in Michigan, but you have to offer more,” said Craig Cutler, general manager and COO of the club. “This helps us with a year-round operation. We don’t close anymore.”

The projects add a modern fitness center to the clubhouse’s ground level to replace an emptied indoor swimming pool that had been closed since the early 1930s. Completion is expected next month.

A six-lane bowling alley, expected to be complete this month, is being added to the bottom level.

Work began on the two projects about a year ago.

Troy-based G2 Consulting Group provided engineering services for the project. The club required that the footprint or historical architecture of its existing clubhouse — which is actually the fourth in club history — not be altered.

Excavation was done under the building so the foundation could be lowered to make room for higher ceilings and larger interior spaces. To accomplish that without disturbing the footprint, the building was put on stilts, according to Mark Stapleton, G2’s project manager.

Concrete was then poured to encapsulate the stilts, which provided stability for the renovations without disruption to the structure; the new foundation walls will also serve as long-term support.

In all, the building moved just 1/32 of an inch during the entire process.

Birmingham-based McIntosh Poris Associates was the architecture firm. Farmington Hills-based McCarthy & Smith Inc. is the general contractor, and West Bloomfield Township-based Desai/Nasr Consulting Engineers Inc. also provided engineering services.

The casual dining area and kitchen also have been renovated recently.

According to The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a Brownfield is “real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.” Brownfield is a term frequently used in urban planning to describe land previously used for industrial purposes or some commercial uses. Such land may have been contaminated with hazardous…READ MORE.

Construction is on the march in metropolitan Detroit. It’s creating jobs and opportunities not only in the construction industry itself, but among construction equipment, material providers, and the countless businesses that benefit from improved infrastructure and better communities. One look at Woodward Avenue through Midtown and Downtown Detroit…[Read More]

Construction of a new area for the Detroit Red Wings in the District Detroit development has begun near downtown Detroit, and G2 Consulting Group is a part of the multitude of design and construction professionals contributing to this marquee project. The new arena will hold over 20,000 spectators, cost $627 million to construct and feature a unique, glass-roofed concourse connecting it to offices and shops surrounding it. The arena is a key part of the new, $1.2 billion District Detroit, a 50-block development in the heart of the city, with sports and entertainment venues and…Read More.

Michigan Department of Transportation, Lansing, has renamed G2 Consulting Group, Troy, a geotechnical environmental and construction materials services firm, as part of its pre-approved engineering team through an “as-needed” services contract for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county projects… READ MORE.

After years of debate, Michigan now has a $1.2 billion road funding bill in place to address the deplorable condition of the state’s major roads and highways, which some experts call the worst in the nation. Although the voters previously rejected a legislative proposal, virtually every Michigan resident agrees that it’s past time that the roads are repaired and that a strategic plan is implemented.

While the road funding debate transpired at the state level, local municipalities and road building experts have needed to continuously repair, rehabilitate or replace their roads – despite the lack of a cohesive state-wide funding plan. Using a combination of new technology, holistic infrastructure planning and lessons learned, this team of public and private expertise has implemented strategic pavement management plans, leveraging scarce funding.

“Tight budgets have required that we look at every component of the road building equation to ensure that we maximize the potential fix,” says G2 Consulting Group’s Jim Berry, a veteran civil engineer with 30 years of road building experience. “There has been constant innovation in road evaluation and construction in recent years. Working with our engineering partners and local municipalities, we now look at roads on a full network basis instead of an individual project basis to help communities thoroughly evaluate their priorities.”

Local community road planners agree. “It’s often a question of total reconstruction versus extending the life of current surfaces,” says Leigh Schultz, Southfield’s city engineer. “We look to the state to provide the long term strategy but we’ve continued to aggressively improve Southfield’s roads.”

According to Schultz, after Michigan’s Prop 1 Road Improvement Plan failed, the City of Southfield passed a $99 million bond for local improvement projects. “Our residents understand the value of good roads to attract economic opportunities. In addition to addressing critical needs, the bond has helped us  be aggressive in seeking federal grants that often require matching funds from the municipalities themselves.”

Paul O’Meara, Birmingham City Engineer, agrees with the importance of working with the community to determine project priorities. “New technologies like Roadsoft have become great tools for road analysis and tracking,” he said. “We drive each and every street each year to visually inspect road conditions, and we use a comprehensive database on road conditions to help us chart our future plans.”

Berry agrees that road planning technologies add tremendous value and also stresses the importance of visual inspections of road surfaces. “It’s equally important to analyze and  evaluate below-the-road  factors — soil and pavement conditions, drainage, and the level of deterioration a road has experienced over a time period — to determine the best approach within an environment. This information is key to prudent decision making. Sometimes it makes  more sense to repair a  slightly damaged road as opposed to a rip-and-replace of a different road in worse condition. Considerations include the amount of traffic using the road and predictive models for future deterioration. With the huge amount of work that needs to be done across Michigan communities, we all want to get the most out of every dollar spent.”

In the case of Southfield, that has meant prioritizing road projects where there was also a need to repair the water main. “A lot of infrastructure was built around the same time and is now in need of repair. By looking at our needs holistically, we’re able to find ways to bundle projects and stretch our dollars,” said Schultz.

In Birmingham, O’Meara says that stretching dollars is often about selecting the right materials. “Asphalt is less expensive than concrete, however the life expectancy is maybe 20 years on asphalt versus 50 for concrete. So, if you take the long view, the total life cycle cost of concrete is often the more economical choice.”

In addition, the actual materials used to make roadways has improved over the years. “Concrete mixes in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s had elements that caused a chemical reaction leading to premature cracking, shares Bruce Wilberding, Principal and lead of G2’s Construction Engineering Services. “However, the new mixes are the best we’ve seen in decades. Asphalt is improving also – nearly 100% of black asphalt is recyclable.”

Local communities, engineering firms and their suppliers understand they can only be successful by working together to address critical issues efficiently and cost effectively. New modeling technologies and materials are demonstrating long lasting results that, ultimately, provide a significantly improved drive quality experience for Michigan motorists.

The Michigan road industry has learned a lot of valuable lessons over the recent ‘lean’ years. Now that the state has a funding plan in place, city engineers and their partners can be even more effective in their strategic approaches to deploying road dollars. Berry captures the cautious optimism expressed at the local agency level, “Hopefully, we’ve turned the corner and Michigan roads will see significant improvement over the coming years.”

Patrick T. Bell has joined Troy-based G2 Consulting Group as an environmental project manager.

Bell, of Oxford, will focus on providing environmental and construction services for land development projects. With 20 years in the industry, Bell has had direct involvement in more than 4,000 environmental assessment, remediation, construction, and land development projects throughout North America, ranging from mining and brownfield redevelopment to underground storage tank management, renewable energy development, and consulting to financial institutions.

Previously, Bell worked in positions of increasing responsibility at Atwell-Hicks, AKT Peerless, and Tim Hortons, providing environmental, construction, and development entitlement services.

Bell earned his Bachelor of Science in urban and regional planning from Eastern Michigan University and has a graduate certificate from Michigan State University in Environmental Remediation and Management.

Note: G2 provided geotechnical expertise to Lanzo, the contractor on the project.

In late 2014, Lanzo Trenchless Technologies received a call from NTH Consulting and Drain Commission officials asking if there was interest to competitively bid on the latest contracts in a series of projects called the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor Drain (OMID). The tasks to be performed included deep interceptor pipeline and structure rehabilitation on problematic segments of sewer straddling Oakland and Macomb Counties in southeast Michigan. This 50-year-old concrete system ran adjacent to a crucial roadway (M 59) connecting the east and west sides of heavily populated suburban Metro Detroit.

There was concern as to competitive market interest on a project that would be mixing several different trenchless technologies in one or two construction packages valued in the $20 million range.
The Problem

Engineers had identified that the system was succumbing to sulfide attack of reinforced concrete pipe and manholes that were installed during the late 1970s. As part of Segment 4 Repairs, it was deemed a priority to evaluate and repair more than seven miles of large diameter interceptor sewers some 40 ft beneath the active county thoroughfare to preempt any “catastrophic” failures.

The successful contractor would need to provide a suite of services, including permanent access road construction, high volume sewage control management, cementitious grout in place liners, fully deteriorated model CIPP, large bore spot repairs, cementitious grouting of voids, access manhole restoration, localized crack/failure repairs using chemical grout and CCTV.

Sealed proposals were reviewed by a board overseen by Oakland County Water Commissioner Jim Nash, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Anthony V Marrocco, and State of Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Michael Gregg. Under an MDEQ permit using State “SAW” Loan and EPA funded money; the board solicited to contract work in both the Oakland Arm (PCI-9 / PCI 10), as well as the Avon Arm (PCI 11) Interceptors. NTH served as lead consultant while a local engineering firm, FKE was similarly retained with intimate knowledge of the system, prevailing defects and the pipeline’s potential for trenchless rehabilitation.

Pre-qualified contractors were required to “self-perform” much of the construction trade work by dollar volume. This provision added quality to the specification, minimized risk and insured that the general contractor selected would perform the work as specified while providing first quality materials and workmanship.

Contractors performing the lining work had to demonstrate a proven record of performance in pipeline rehabilitation with minimum lineal footage and minimum successful years of experience for each of applications specified. Additionally, like conditions and necessary skill set for projects of this scale were considered.

Having experience in all of the proposed technologies, Lanzo tendered bids on both projects and was selected with an overall price of under $16 million. Additionally, Lanzo offered a five-year warranty on all materials and workmanship associated with the contracts.

George Nichols, P.E. Oakland County drain commission civil engineer III, would oversee the OMID Segment 4 Repair Program, specifically Contracts 5 and 6, serving as project manager. “Our objective was to reduce system inflow and infiltration (I&I) while structurally stabilizing the Interceptors being investigated,” he said.

Work was difficult and dangerous, requiring the utmost care in safety consideration, monitoring and management. The initial phase of the contract included constructing permanent gravel roads for access and to insure constructability of the project.

The grout-in-place liners was comprised of a Permacast product, which was selected for its corrosion resistance and structural properties. The Permacast pipelining material product was specially designed for dry shot application and is fully compatible with Conshield, which was specified to prevent Microbially Induced Corrosion (MIC) while resisting the attack of sewer gases.

The Permacast material also contained a Crystal X additive which creates a crystalline waterproofing membrane to auto heal any cracks which might develop. This material may be put on in multiple lifts without cold joints.

For the chemical portion, a premixed liquid acrylamide grout was formulated and shipped by Avanti International for ease of application and to facilitate a high rate of installation.

Lanzo also used “Fully Deteriorated Design Model” cured-in-place (CIPP) liners, which would offer stand alone structural characteristics while meeting the demands of a 50-year service life expectancy.
High-quality isophthallic polyester resin manufactured by Interplastic was used in tubes weighing as much as 40,000 lbs each.

One of the early tasks was to tunnel a 16-ft diameter shaft down to the 96-in. diameter sewer crown, create access and build a platform for staging of both the chemical and cementitious grouting activities within the pipeline.

Challenges included working in and around flow that could not be disrupted during the construction process. Much of the work was conducted above existing flow lines by holding cementitious delivery hoses at elevations above the hydraulic grade line. A cabled Hammerhead Winch System was erected to pull construction carts between access points as far as 1,200 ft apart. Specially fabricated platforms and this mobile carriage delivery system insured the transport of materials to respective rehabilitation sites within the pipeline.

As part of the inspection process, any reinforcing steel that was identified as suspect was slated to be replaced as directed by the engineer.

The owner’s objective was to perform as many repairs possible given this unique opportunity to have total access to this critical trunk sewer interceptor during the project.

Lanzo Trenchless North principal Angelo D’Alessandro was involved in periodic evaluation meetings where additional rehabilitation of lines already under bypass was considered.

“The cost to bypass, access and enter these sewers is high. It’s in everyone’s best interest to make hay while the sun is shining,” said D’Alessandro. An opportunity was identified given a window of time to provide expanded services, while already under bypass, in order to minimize future risk while conserving cost moving forward.

Anticipation of repairs as specified, while thorough, did not cover every inch of pipeline. The cost to return vs. the cost of making additional repairs while in the pipeline was considered. Engineers discussed the ability to anticipate areas which would be the next in line to undergo attack. Work in additional “areas of concern” was then added and performed concurrent with the specified schedule of services.

It was decided to perform additional CIPP lining which would offer a “one and done” approach to select line segments. This would effectively take these lines out of any future consideration for maintenance or ongoing evaluation. Given a CIPP service life expectation of at least 50 years, the cost of evaluating the sewers every eight years or so affords diminished returns when major flow control management (bypass), maintenance of traffic and social cost of disruption is considered.

On a grand scale, the OMID projects represented an overall $160 million effort by the board which has been under construction since about 2009. Segment 4 activities are ongoing with an anticipated completion date of spring 2016.