PROJECT

DESCRIPTION

DEEP SOIL MIXING GROUND

IMPROVEMENT
KEY-ELEMENTS
CLIENT
City of Nanaimo, British Columbia
LOCATION
Nanaimo, BC
SERVICE
Ground improvement using rapid
impact compaction (RIC), shallow
soil mixing and deep soil mixing
using a Cutter Soil Mixer (CSM)
DURATION
March 2006 to August 2006

GAIA PROJECT VALUE

$3 Million
OVERALL PROJECT VALUE
$ 72.5 Million
KEY PROJECT PERSONNEL
- Project Director: Brian Wilson
- Project Manager: John Scholte

GAIA Contractors has successfully completed on schedule the stabilization of the

ground at the City of Nanaimos Vancouver Island Conference Center (VICC).
GAIAs approach, using state-of-the-art deep soil mixing (DSM) equipment,
resulted in final construction costs substantially lower than would have been the
case using one of the more traditional methods previously considered.
This part of old downtown Nanaimo is built on an area that was once a sandstone
inlet complete with harbour and docks. Now in-filled with material varying from
sandy soils to wood debris to blast rock, the site of the VICC was susceptible to
liquefaction and large scale movement in the event of an earthquake, posing a
significant risk of settlement or even collapse of the proposed structure.
GAIA proposed and implemented a three-fold solution consisting of preliminary
ground densification using rapid impact compaction, shallow soil mixing at select
footing locations, and deep soil mixing using state-of-the-art Cutter Soil Mixer
(CSM).
This project represents the first ever North American application of this type of
deep soil mixing technology, and possibly the first application of this design
approach for a commercial application in an urban environment anywhere. By
constructing soil-cement walls through the underlying loose soils and keying them
into competent ground at depth the design prevents large lateral movements of
the liquefiable soils and provides vertical foundation support onto the underlying
till.
Through the use of innovative construction
techniques and teaming with local
contractors and services, GAIA was able
to keep project costs down, finish on
schedule and participate in the local
economy on this flagship project for the
City of Nanaimo. Golder Associates Ltd,
concurrent with GAIA activities, also
investigated and completed environmental
site remediation.
With the soils successfully remediated,
construction on site is moving briskly. ITC,
the general contractors, report that the
project is on schedule for an anticipated
substantial completion in spring 2008.

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Sheet #58, Project n 061-7000-03