Boston, MA
303 Congress Street
Scope/Solutions
The six-story, steel-moment framed building at 303 Congress Street was constructed in 1983. The building was two bays wide parallel to Congress Street and eight bays wide parallel to the water. Deep precast concrete pile foundations on the water side ultimately bore on glacial till. In 1995, SGH investigated foundation settlement that caused significant damage and resulted in immediate evacuation of the building.
SGH led a team in investigating the cause of the sudden 6 in. vertical settlement and observed foundation distress. We coordinated the installation of emergency supports at the front of the building, settlement monitoring, underwater pile inspection, soil sampling, existing building frame weld testing, nondestructive testing, and concrete petrographic analysis.
We determined that concrete piles failed due to internal and external sulfate attacks. We developed repair and building demolition concepts and budgets ultimately used by the city to condemn the building.
SGH helped coordinate and monitor the building demolition.
Project Summary
1995
Key team members
