Whittemore Ave neighborhood area and North Parking Lots:
- Building 1: Ongoing activities related to interior construction
- Building 1: Will have a tent erected along a portion of the North elevation with soil disturbing activities
- Building 2: Continued construction activity
- Building 3: will have concrete foundations, concrete floors, and steel erection activity
- North Parking Lot A will have a large tent erected with soil disturbing activities
- North Parking Lot B will have a large tent dismantled. Parking lot paving and landscaping to follow
- North Parking Lot D will be closing later this month in preparation for the erection of a large tent. Preparation will also include the need for some tree pruning. Parking lot closure will last several months. Cars currently parking in this lot will be notified in advance by means of flyers on their windshields.
- East Parking Lot will have a large tent erected with soil disturbing activities. Preparation will include the need for some tree pruning.
Large white tents #1 and #2 are currently in the footprint of Building 5. Large white tent #3 will move to the east parking lot. Tent #4 is currently in the footprint of Building 4. Tent #7 will move west along the south side of Building 2. All tent locations will be active with soil disturbing activities.
Open excavation in clean soils will be conducted on the east and west sides of Building 2 and in the footprint of Building 3. Concrete footings and foundations will continue to be formed and place in these locations. The concrete floors of Building 3 will begin to be placed in September and continue into November. Throughout the month, structural steel erection will continue at Building 3 and begin at the east addition of Building 2.
Open excavation in clean soils will continue south of Building 1 for the installation of underground piping and conduit for site utilities.
Pile driving activities will continue in the footprint of Building 4. This will be on combination of vibratory and impact methods.
A pile foundation is defined as a series of steel beams inserted into the ground to transmit loads to a lower level of subsoil. A vibratory hammer is a machine attached to a boom crane, that holds the pile vertical and vibrates it into the ground. Piles are vibrated and pushed into the ground to act as a steady support for structures built on top of them. Piles transfer the loads from structures to hard strata, rocks, or soil with high bearing capacity
Piles are initially driven using a vibratory hammer. This method typically has less noise and a small vibration footprint. Once piles are driven to the required depth at bedrock, the piles are then finished by mean of impact hammer. A pile impact hammer is a machine that hammers it into the bedrock. Blows are repeated by lifting a heavy weight and dropping it on top of the pile. Piles should be hammered into the ground until the refusal point is reached, which is the point where a pile cannot be driven into the soil any farther. Typically, each pile would receive somewhere between 10 & 20 plows before reaching its refusal point.
Eversource electrical utility work at the end of Harvey Street has been completed. This work brought underground power to the site for our temporary construction electrical substation. Temporary overhead electrical lines and poles are all installed throughout the site for the distribution of construction related electricity. Electrical substation and power to the site is now live to Building 1 and Building 2 along with some other operations throughout the site.
The two generators that were running 24/7 to power critical operations are in different stages of being decommissioning. These generators were granted a noise ordinance variance by the City of Cambridge Licensing Commission through the end of September.
The larger main generator that was powering the following operations has been decommissioned and removed from the site. The smaller secondary generator that is powering the excavation dewatering activities is currently undergoing electrical design to be switch over to utility power.
Other generators run during regular working hours to support a variety of construction activities.
Maintenance and trash pickup along the public pathways on the west side of the property running from Whittemore Ave down along Parkway Pond to the MBTA Headhouse Plaza is ongoing. Activation of the emergency call box phones on the most southern section is still work in progress.