Highwoods Properties – MetLife Office Buildings and Parking Decks (Weston Parkway Site)

S&ME, Inc. provided geotechnical engineering, special inspections, and construction materials testing services for two MetLife office buildings and parking decks located off Weston Parkway in Cary, North Carolina, under contract with Highwoods Properties.

Geotechnical Services

Our services included a geotechnical exploration of each building site. This involved drilling soil test borings at each of the column locations where drilled shaft foundations were anticipated to facilitate our engineering analyses and to help forecast foundation construction costs estimates during design development.  S&ME performed the laboratory testing and engineering analyses and concluded that a cost effective foundation system for this site could be achieved by incorporating a combination of drilled shaft foundations and shallow spread foundations in the project designs.

 Construction Materials Testing and Special Inspections

In addition, S&ME  performed the construction materials testing and special inspections services as a continued service for Highwoods Properties. S&ME’s responsibilities included observation of the drilled shaft foundations, evaluation of foundation bearing grades and subgrades, and field and laboratory testing of soil, grout, concrete, reinforced masonry, structural steel, and fireproofing inspections through substantial completion.  Discrepancies identified in the work, and corrective measures to resolve discrepancies were promptly communicated to the Owner’s Representative, Structural Engineer, Architect, Contractor, and other appropriate members of the design team.

The project was constructed on-time without change orders associated with foundation installation.