Project Description

The Vancouver School Board (VSB) was in need of a new building for the seismic upgrade of Dr. George M. Weir Elementary School in East Vancouver, as the existing main building, gym, and library were built in the 1960s and did not meet current-day seismic standards. The upgrade included construction of a new, at-grade two-storey building founded over an underground tunnel.

The new building is now situated in soft / compressible surficial fill, peat, and silt/clay material in a location established as having “potential sensitivity to water table changes” by the City of Vancouver, and therefore required a hydrogeological study.

Our Role

The City selected RAM’s geotechnical team to provide geotechnical design services for the new construction, which included:

• Site investigation;
• Identifying that the soft / compressible surficial soils could be susceptible to liquefaction or cyclic softening during a seismic event, therefore the new building foundations could not be supported upon these surficial soils;
• Following consultation with local contractors, determining that the most practical and economically-feasible solution would be to excavate the soft/ compressible soils to the depth of suitable bearing material. The excavations were then backfilled with compacted sand and gravel or lean mix concrete, to underside of the building footings, allowing the building loads to be supported upon suitable bearing material;
• Site liquefaction assessments;
• Temporary excavation design;
• Erosion and sediment control design;
• Preparing a hydrogeology and groundwater management report to address the City of Vancouver’s building permit requirements;
• Liquefaction assessment;
• Erosion and sediment control design.