Harvard Law School NW Corner

2007 – Cambridge, MA

The project is located at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Everett Street in Cambridge, MA. The building is a 6-story building, which, once completed, will be used for academic, student and clinical centers. The foundation work consisted of the construction of a 36” thick slurry wall and load bearing elements (LBE’s) for top-down construction of the garage structure, which includes a basement level plus 4 levels of underground parking. The slurry wall serves as support of excavation and permanent foundation wall.

The slurry wall and LBE’s were constructed through layers of fill, organic deposits, marine deposits of sand and clay and glacial till. The glacial till in that area is known to be very hard with numerous areas of nested of boulders. Many boulders were anticipated and, in fact, encountered. The slurry wall and LBE’s were constructed in a very close proximity to the MBTA Red Line tunnel and to Harvard University’s Harkness Building, which houses several students and academic activities. This dictated a very low tolerance for noise and vibrations during construction. Considering the nature of the soil, TREVIICOS elected to use a SOILMEC SC-120 Hydromill in order to minimize the noise and vibrations in going through the till and, giving the sensitivity of the location, reduce the desanding time. Due to the existence of contaminated material in some locations, all TREVIICOS’ onsite personnel completed a 40-hour OSHA HAZWOPER training. Special measures were implemented while excavating in the contaminated locations in order to separate the contaminated material, protect the personnel and the public. The project was completed on time meeting very high quality and safety standards to the client’s satisfaction.