Geo-Foundations routinely develops and implements advanced technologies and techniques for use in specialty geotechnical construction. From our successful elimination of a 100-metre deep, 2,500 L/sec inflow in Missouri, to our portfolio of micropile and soil nailing projects, to our role in the construction of the Niagara Tunnel, Geo-Foundations has built a reputation for innovation along with reliable and consistent on-site performance.
To read our case studies, please choose a Technology from the menu on the left side.
Laurie River Generating Station #2
Date: 2003
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Laurie River Generating Stations #1 & #2 are located 60 km south of Lynn Lake in northwestern Manitoba. The two stations originally went into operation in the 1950s to supply Sherritt Gordon's mining operations in the area. Laurie River GS #2 has the capacity to generate up to five megawatts of hydroelectric power. More »
Blind Slough Dam
Date: 2005 View Case Study
In 2005, Geo-Foundations spent nine months at BC Hydro's Blind Slough Dam drilling and installing over 3,600 dowels rock anchors. The major component of this rehabilitation and seismic retrofit project was the construction of 71 large, deep, rock anchors. More »
McPhail Dam
Date: 2006 View Case Study
Brookfield Power owns and operates several hydroelectric generating facilities on the Montreal River near Wawa, Ontario. In the late summer of 2006, one of these structures, McPhail Dam, was the recipient of an upgrade that consisted of installation of post-tensioned rock anchors in each of its three spillway piers. More »
Thirsk Reservoir Expansion
Date: 2006 View Case Study
Thirsk Reservoir is located in the picturesque Okanagan Lakes district, near Summerland, B.C. As part of the 2006 project to expand reservoir capacity and rehabilitate the reservoir's arch dam, Geo-Foundations constructed 166 post-tensioned, multi-strand and solid bar rock anchors amidst very challenging conditions. More »
Minden Generating Station
Date: 2003 View Case Study
Minden Generating Station is a four-megawatt hydroelectric generation facility located at the old Workman' Falls site in Minden, Ontario. The station was built in the late 1930s, and is owned and operated by Orillia Power Generation Corporation. In early 2002, Geo-Foundations was awarded a two-year contract to rehabilitate the dam structure as part of Orillia Power's strong ongoing commitment to safety. More »
London Street Generating Station
Date: 2006 View Case Study
London Street Generating Station, owned and operated by Peterborough Utilities Inc, is a 1900s era structure on the Ottanabee River just upstream of downtown Peterborough. Its spillway bays are divided from one another by 12 piers. In 2006, as part of PUI's ongoing program to upgrade its numerous generating facilities, 24 post-tensioned rock anchors - two for each of the dam's 12 piers - were installed by Geo-Foundations. More »
Pointe du Bois East Forebay Wall
Date: 2002 - 2003 View Case Study
Over a 13-month period spanning most of 2002 and into 2003, Geo-Foundations completed its second large anchoring project at the 90-year-old Pointe du Bois Generating Station. This $3.5M project involved anchoring the East Forebay Wall and Spillway Bays 121 through 133. More »
Pointe du Bois Generating Station - Powerhouse
Date: 2000 View Case Study
Over a five-month period at the end of 2000, Geo-Foundations successfully completed a complex project that included the installation and stressing of high capacity strand anchors to tie down the 90-year old powerhouse structure at Pointe du Bois Generating Station in eastern Manitoba. More »
Pine Falls Generating Station
Date: 2001 View Case Study
Pine Falls Generating Station, owned by Manitoba Hydro, includes amongst its structures a gravity wall that connects the powerhouse to the spillway. In 2001, an upgrade repair project was designed and tendered that prescribed the installation of 39 solid bar rock anchors, each to design load 633 kN. More »
Transformation AGO
Date: 2005 - 2006 View Case Study
The Art Gallery of Ontario's various galleries, collection vaults, and administrative offices are housed within a mix of structures dating from the 1910's, 1920's, 1970's and 1990's. The AGO's most recent major renovation, Transformation AGO, designed by famed architect Frank Gehry, required structural modifications to and within structures from each of the AGO's past periods of construction. More »
Nipigon River Bridge
Date: 2004 - 2005 View Case Study
Canadian Pacific Railway's Nipigon River Bridge, located 125 km east of Thunder Bay on one of Canada's principal east-west rail corridors, is a 24-metre high structure built in the late 19th century and founded on timber piles. With the continued reliability of the original foundations in question, CPR tendered a contract in 2004 that included construction of 100 micropiles to permanently support the bridge's three piers. More »
Pembroke Courthouse
Date: 2005 View Case Study
During six weeks of extremely hot weather in the summer of 2005, Geo-Foundations installed a total of 70 micropiles to support and tie down the new Pembroke Courthouse. More »
Ricoh Coliseum
Date: 2003 View Case Study
The AHL's Toronto Marlboros play their home games on the grounds of the CNE at Ricoh Coliseum, a 1920s-era covered arena converted over a span of just 10 months in 2003 by a $38M refit into a state-of-the-art 10,000-seat entertainment complex. More »
Tip Top Lofts
Date: 2003 View Case Study
The former Tip Top Tailors building on Lakeshore Road is a classic example of art-deco architecture, and one of the most recognized heritage structures in all of Toronto. The circa-1929 building was converted, starting in 2003, into luxury condominium units known as "tip top lofts". More »
CN Grimsby
Date: 2003 View Case Study
Geo-Foundations, as design-builder, has constructed an innovative slope stabilization scheme for rail operator CN at a site south of St. Catharines, Ontario. At Mile 10.74 of CN's Grimsby Subdivision, just below grade on the south slope of a 15-metre high earth embankment, there now exists a 62-metre long reinforced concrete beam. More »
Bay Dundas Development
Date: 2004 - 2005 View Case Study
Opened for business early in 2006, the mixed use Bay Dundas Development in Toronto, which includes a Canadian Tire retail store and the Ryerson School of Business, is supported by a deep foundation system consisting partially of micropiles designed and constructed by Geo-Foundations. More »
Credit Valley Hospital
Date: 2003 View Case Study
Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, Ontario will soon enjoy three new levels of parking built on top of the existing 3-level P1 elevated parking structure. The foundation reinforcing necessary for this vertical expansion was completed by Geo-Foundations during six weeks of work between 2003 and 2004. More »
Ontario Science Centre - Hot Zone
Date: 2004 View Case Study
The new Hot Zone exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre is designed to be the hub of a $12M expansion at the famous education-themed Toronto attraction. The renovation required to accommodate this expansion includes new structural steel framing within and above an existing interior space. More »
YDSS Interceptor Jet Grouting
Date: 2007 View Case Study
The York District Sanitary Sewer Interceptor in Richmond Hill, Ontario, is a tunnel, at some places 28 metres below surface, constructed by McNally Construction Inc. The tunnel was excavated using a tunnel boring machine and has six deep shafts over its 4.3 km length. Soils surrounding two of the six shafts were treated by Geo-Foundations with double fluid jet grouting. More »
CN Dundas
Date: 2002 View Case Study
A 250-metre long section of the CN Rail line near Dundas, Ontario was stabilized by Geo-Foundations using a soil nailing system designed for CN by Alston Associates. More »
CN Fairchild Creek
Date: 2001 View Case Study
CN's Fairchild Creek Viaduct, which fords a valley with a creek at its base, is founded on groups of piers on spread foundations. The pier groups ascend the valley slopes on both sides of the creek. Creek bank erosion over many decades had decreased the factor of safety of the pier foundations on the south slope below acceptable limits. More »
CN Sunfish Pond
Date: 2006 View Case Study
Geo-Foundations was contracted by CN Rail in 2006 to create a system for rapidly installing grout-flushed soil nails into an existing embankment supporting a twin railroad overlooking Sunfish Pond in Burlington, Ontario. The soil nailing was a key component in the design for upgrading and stabilizing the embankment prior to its being expanded to host a third rail. More »
UWO Modular Animal Care
Date: 2003 View Case Study
The University of Western Ontario's new animal research facility is a 5,000 square metre, 2-storey structure built into the side of a hill. The building's construction was made possible by a 6-metre high, 600 square metre face permanent anchored shotcrete wall constructed by Geo-Foundations. More »
Renaissance ROM
Date: 2003 View Case Study
The Renaissance ROM project, featuring the new Michael Lee Chin Chrystal designed by architect Daniel Liebskind, rises above Bloor Street in Toronto in dramatic fashion. Part of the excavation required to construct this new addition to the 90-year old ROM was made possible by permanent anchored shotcrete underpinning constructed by Geo-Foundations. More »
Toyota Engine Dress Up Pit
Date: 2001 View Case Study
Expansion in 2001 of an existing assembly line at Toyota's Cambridge, Ontario automobile manufacturing plant required the construction of a new 3-metre deep pit within the midst of the engine dress up line. An aggressive shutdown schedule, coupled with restricted access and unknown sub-surface conditions highlighted the numerous challenges of this design- build excavation shoring project. More »
Toronto Western Hospital
Date: 2003 View Case Study
Toronto Western Hospital's complex at Bathurst and Dundas Streets includes a new 10-storey wing on a site recently occupied by a courtyard and subterranean service tunnel. Geo-Foundations constructed a 5-metre deep anchored shotcrete wall to underpin a gridline of spread footings supporting an existing 8-storey wing of the hospital and to shore the balance of the deep excavation required for the construction of a stairwell out from the original underground parking garage, up and into the new tower's ground floor. More »
Aeroquay Stormwater Management Facility
Date: 2001 View Case Study
Toronto's Pearson International Airport was the recipient of a multi-year, multi-billion dollar redevelopment of the entire airport infrastructure during the two half decades book-ending the end of the twentieth century. The area's comprehensive network of stormwater interceptor reservoirs includes Aeroquay Stormwater Management Facility that lies hidden underground beneath busy Aeroquay Crescent. More »
Lonestar Cape Girardeau
Date: 2002 View Case Study
The most distinct feature of Lonestar's Cape Girardeau property is its 300-foot deep quarry where limestone is mined and conveyed a short distance to the plant where it is used in the manufacture of cement. More »
Millville Quarry
Date: 1997 View Case Study
In December of 1998, Geo-Foundations concluded the seventh phase of hot bitumen grouting at a very challenging inflow reduction project at a limestone aggregate quarry in West Virginia. Before commencement of grouting work in late 1997, the underground water flow from a nearby river into the quarry was estimated to be as great as 2,800 L/sec (45,000 USGPM). Upon conclusion of the project, the quarry inflow from the river source was completely eliminated. More »
Niagara Tunnel - Intake Shaft Grout Curtain
Date: 2007 View Case Study
Due to be commissioned in 2010, the new 10.4 kilometre long, 14-metre diameter Niagara Tunnel is being built with the help of the world's largest hard rock tunnel boring machine, "Big Becky". More »
Edmonton South LRT
Date: 2003 View Case Study
Geo-Foundations, in joint venture with Soletanche Inc., completed a $1.6M contract for soil permeation grouting as part of the Edmonton South LRT extension in 2003. Grouting was incorporated into the tunnel construction scheme to consolidate deposits of outwash sands prior to their intersection by the tunnel excavation. More »
Jane Street & Highway 7
Date: 2006 View Case Study
The intersection of Jane & Highway 7 in Vaughan was closed from February to May of 2006 after a manhole within the intersection collapsed and caused a water main to break. The eventually vast scope of repairs at this site, which included multiple deep excavations and several completely reconstructed sewers, included compaction grouting by Geo-Foundations to restore density and stiffness to a disturbed soil layer beneath the intersection. More »
Technology: Soil Anchors
Maid of the Mist
Date: 2002 View Case Study
The Maid of the Mist Steamboat Company has operated continuously, in one form or another, since 1876, providing tourists with unparalleled closeup views of Niagara Falls. In 2002, the company installed new winches on the Canadian side of the Niagara Gorge for transferring their six-boat fleet into and out of the river. More »
Technology: Percussive Duplex Drilling
Britt Wharf
Date: 2004 View Case Study
The wharf at Britt Harbour, located at the mouth of the Magnetawan River on Georgian Bay, receives tanker ships from the Great Lakes to supply CP Rail's Britt fueling bunkers. The existing wooden wharf, destroyed by fire in 2003, was replaced in the summer of 2004 by McNally Construction of Hamilton. The new wharf is founded on 37 rock-socketed, 406 diameter pipe piles, installed by McNally and Geo-Foundations. More »
Technology: Masonry Rehabilitation Grouting
Library of Parliament
Date: 2002 - 2005 View Case Study
Canada's Library of Parliament, located on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, has been designated by Public Works as the country's foremost heritage structure. More »