Overview

Allen Park Public Schools added 800,000 square feet of new construction to Allen Park High School, including a two-story, 650-seat auditorium with a full orchestra pit and a new natatorium. One of the district’s first steps was to hire G2 Consulting Group to perform a geotechnical investigation and to develop foundation recommendations.

Challenges/Solutions:

• The footprint included a shallow surface “crust” of stiff cohesive soil underlain by soft “toothpaste” consistency clay.
• To address the site conditions, G2 designed deep foundations consisting of 90-foot long, 100-ton steel H-piles bearing on the underlying hardpan and bedrock, confirming capacity with a pile load test.
• Adjacent structures needed to be protected during construction, including the existing school, a 50-foot deep sewer interceptor, and residences.
• G2 performed ground vibration investigation and monitoring to evaluate and monitor vibration levels to ensure that no damage was done to nearby structures.
• G2 also performed noise monitoring to verify compliance with local noise ordinances for surrounding residential neighborhoods.