Temporary structures are part of the means and methods of construction and can serve a variety of purposes. Some temporary structures are directly employed in the construction of a project; others provide access to work or protect works or the public from construction hazards.

The conventional wisdom in the construction industry is that temporary structures, regardless of purpose, are means and methods of construction and are the sole responsibility of the construction contractor. This responsibility extends to their design. Consequently, many construction industry stakeholders give little thought to how and by whom temporary structures are designed. ‘Let the contractor figure it out’ is a common attitude. However, this approach is too simple. While there are good reasons for the contractor to have responsibility for temporary structures, project stakeholders, including owners and their design professionals should recognize that they may have an interest in who designs the temporary structures used on their projects. Continue reading “Why Consulting Engineers Should Design Temporary Structures”

Ordinary construction projects usually follow some variant of one of two delivery methods: design-bid-build or design-build. In the design-bid-build delivery method, the owner retains design professionals to prepare construction documents, some form of competitive bidding process takes place, and the successful contractor builds the work. Most commercial building projects and a lot of public building and infrastructure projects use design-bid-build. In design-build, the owner, sometimes with the assistance of their design professionals negotiate an agreement with a constructor to design and build the project based on the owner’s performance criteria. The design-build method often reduces the duration of the project because construction can begin before the design is completed. It works well when the owner’s requirements can be well-defined and the details of the design are less important. Infrastructure projects, especially in the private sector, and home-building often uses design-build.

But have you ever encountered build-design?

Continue reading “Avoiding Build-Design Construction”

Despite the challenges presented by this strange, pandemic-impacted year, 2020 was a record-setting year for Richard J. Driscoll, Consulting Engineer (RJDCE), but also required resilience and adaptability.

The Year in Review

After record years in 2018 and 2019, RJDCE set records for proposals issued, new projects, hit rate, billings and revenue in 2020. Structural condition assessments, including forensic investigations, design for structural alterations, and claims/litigation support represented much of the practice’s work for the year. One highlight of the year was RJDCE’s involvement in the renovation of City Hall in Lebanon, New Hampshire for which RJDCE provided design of underpinning, sheeting and bracing, waterproofing and subslab drainage.

Five Year Anniversary

In February, RJDCE celebrated its fifth anniversary as a practice. While five years may not sound like much, this anniversary is a good measure of the practice’s sustainability. Although the celebration was subdued, it provided a good opportunity to look back at the last five years. Continue reading “2020 in Review”

A common application of underpinning is maintaining the stability of the foundations for adjacent structures during excavation on urban sites. If the excavation is deeper than the foundation depth for an adjacent structure, then the soil below the foundation could fail as the excavation proceeds, potentially causing the structure to collapse. Increasing the depth of an existing basement or cellar often requires underpinning to avoid similar foundation failures.

In these circumstances, concrete pier underpinning is typically employed. This technique became popular during subways construction in New York early in the twentieth century. The piers are constructed in a carefully staged sequence whereby a sheeted hand-excavated pit is advanced to the required depyh below a short segment of the existing foundation and is filled with concrete upon completion to create a pier. After load is transferred to the new pier, work can begin on an adjacent pier. Work continues until the entire foundation is resupported below the bottom of the excavation for the new structure. Then, excavation for the new structure can begin. In addition to transmitting loads to below the bottom of the excavation, the underpinning retains soil below the structure preventing soil below the building from being undermined.

While pier underpinning is common and well understood, it is a relatively expensive and high-risk type of construction. Sometimes adverse subsurface or site conditions, including access constraints, make pier underpinning difficult. This sometimes leads project stakeholders to seek alternatives. So what are the alternatives? Continue reading “What are the Alternatives to Pier Underpinning?”

The spread of COVID-19, stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions, recession, and protests of racism and police violence have made for a chaotic first half of 2020. While not the most affected of industries, the architecture/engineering/construction business has experienced significant disruptions. This has resulted in operational inefficiencies and project delays, forcing businesses to adapt to a new and hopefully short-lived “normal”.

In most of the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, the rate of new cases has declined, suggesting that the first wave of the pandemic is over. States and cities are relaxing, if not lifting stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions and allowing businesses to reopen with interim measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Richard J. Driscoll, Consulting Engineer (RJDCE) has strived to continue serving clients and ongoing projects during the COVID-19 crisis with minimal disruption. Most services, including consulting, engineering analysis and design were not interrupted. However, some delayed projects resumed in May, concurrent with a seasonal increase in workload. This resulted in scheduling challenges, especially for projects needing drafting and site visits, resulting in a backlog that should clear in the next few weeks.

Recently, RJDCE resumed providing routine site visits in New Hampshire and Vermont, implementing new measures to reduce the risk of virus transmission. As travel restrictions are relaxed, site visits can be scheduled in other states as well. For the time being, meetings will continue to be conducted online whenever possible.

While much of the United States is not through the first wave, many public health experts expect a second wave in the fall that could be more severe, especially if it occurs concurrently with cold and flu season. RJDCE will be preparing contingency plans to maintain continuity of operations for such an occurrence. In the meantime, RJDCE recommends scheduling assessments and other services requiring site visits during the summer month in case a second wave requires stay-at-home orders to be reinstated.

RJDCE thanks you for your support. Stay safe.

Peer review is a useful but underutilized tool for risk management in design and construction. A peer review is an independent evaluation of some aspect of a project by a professional with relevant knowledge and experience. The objective of a peer review might be quality assurance, compliance with applicable codes, standards and best practices, economy, constructability or risk management. Continue reading “Peer Review in Design and Construction: an Underutilized Tool”

Richard J. Driscoll, Consulting Engineer (RJDCE) is monitoring the ongoing public health crisis associated with the spread of the novel coronavirus and the resulting disease, COVID-19. States of emergency have been declared in much of RJDCE’s service area, including the states of, including the states of Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Virginia, the District of Columbia and New York City.

RJDCE is continuing to provide services to clients and is available to take on new projects. Since it already uses online collaboration tools, RJDCE anticipates maintaining operations throughout the crisis. Travel will be limited and meetings and site visits will be accommodated on a case-by-case basis. RJDCE would be pleased to remotely assist firms that are experiencing disruptions.

If you have questions about a current project or the status RJDCE’ operations generally, or need assistance, please contact RJDCE.

Continue reading “Statement on COVID-19”

In February 2020, Richard J. Driscoll, Consulting Engineer (RJDCE) celebrates its fifth anniversary as a practice. Like many small businesses, RJDCE emerged from very humble beginnings. In its short history, it has seen slow and mostly steady growth, evolving from a niche practice in a major metropolitan area to more of a general practice with specialty capabilities offered in several states. However, this evolution has taken some twists and turns, requiring the practice to be flexible to the needs of its clients and the markets it serves, to maintain a breadth and depth of capabilities and constantly learn and adjust.

Prologue

After over a decade of professional experience Richard J. Driscoll, PE was looking to make a change. Having obtained, two interdisciplinary graduate degrees, working on the Central Artery/Tunnel program and transit projects in Boston, spending several years with a legacy foundation engineering firm in New York City and a couple of years with a national multi-discipline firm in Washington, DC, he found himself with a broad skill set, but a specialist in below-ground construction in the urban environment. Since few firms had room for such an unusual specialty, this was feeling like a dead end.

Continue reading “Five Years of RJDCE”