Foundation engineering calls for design expertise, experience and appropriate machinery
Especially in the capital region, construction is focused on increasingly challenging sites that require extensive excavation, quarrying or pile driving efforts. This also highlights the importance of strong design and foundation engineering expertise for the entire construction project. Destia offers a one-stop-shop for all the necessary expertise.
As Alexander Graham Bell once said, “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
This also applies to foundation engineering, the role of which has become more and more important in construction projects. The reason is quite obvious; the locations of the projects are increasingly challenging and may require extensive foundation engineering efforts. If the preliminary surveys are inadequate and surprises arise during the foundation work, the budgets and schedules of the project must often be revised.
According to Pekka Kivelä, Director of Foundation Construction at Destia, the basis of a successful construction project is created at the engineer’s desk. However, the final result is the sum of various factors.
“In foundation engineering, I recommend tapping into the practical know-how of builders and machine operators as each site is unique. Unlike many design companies, we are able to consult these types of professionals who have long, practical experience of even the most challenging locations,” says Kivelä.
Kivelä also emphasises that, despite careful planning, there may still be some surprises at the site.
“That is when you truly get to understand the importance of a competent contractor,” says Kivelä.
Design quality reflects shortage of skilled workers
Project Manager Alexei Kesonen agrees. The best results come from using site expertise and knowledge of different conditions and equipment in the design and planning work alongside numerical and measured data. This is something not all design companies can do anymore as the generation of experienced infrastructure designers is rapidly retiring.
“This creates its own challenges at the site. Many decisions may look functional on paper and turn out to be exactly the opposite in practice. That is why contractors need to make changes to the plans based on their own, practical experience, or ask for specifications. That, in turn, creates challenges in terms of schedules and costs,” says Kesonen.
In the worst-case scenario, the profitability of the entire construction project may be jeopardised by inadequate design or planning and incorrectly estimated foundation engineering costs. Moreover, according to Kivelä, the further along the project has advanced, the bigger the bill.
“Due to challenging and laborious locations, the share of foundation engineering in the overall costs keeps growing. That is why the investors need to have precise and factual information on the risks and the opportunities from the first stages of the project to enable a genuinely reliable cost estimate for the decision-making process,” says Kivelä.
Nature sets the terms
Over the decades, Destia has accumulated a wide-ranging list of references from challenging foundation engineering sites around Finland. The list includes housing built on fill or along railway tracks, bridge projects, challenging pile driving sites and replacement of contaminated soil.
Destia’s current major foundation engineering sites include Kaisantunneli in front of the Helsinki Central Railway Station and Sörnäistentunneli in Kalasatama.
According to Kesonen, each site is unique and the challenges are increased by the surrounding nature and weather conditions that ultimately set the terms for the work. In urban centres, it is also important for the designers to consider the busy urban life.
“You may face water, ice, clay, rock, ground frost, darkness and subzero temperatures. All of these need to be taken into account in the design stage. It is also important to carefully think about the best equipment for each site,” says Kesonen.
The Colas Group that acquired Destia a couple of years ago provides important support.
“Such a large, international Group can offer expertise and resources for even the most challenging projects, when necessary. We can also use their supply channels for our material procurement,” say Kivelä and Kesonen.