If you’re going tall on the East Coast, you’re going to need a solid foundation.
That’s why many of NYC’s record-breaking skyscrapers currently sit on top of foundations excavated and constructed by ECDNY. The innovative foundation contractor combines cutting-edge technology with creative techniques and a unified business model to dig deeper faster and with less disruption to surrounding buildings and infrastructure than the competition. TRD sat down with ECDNY President Barry McKenna, Geotechnical Engineer Walter J. Papp Jr., P.E., and Project Executive Gary Smith for an inside look at how their company became the East Coast’s leading foundation contractor.
Building a One-Stop Foundation Shop
When he started ECDNY in 2012, McKenna was the first foundation contractor in the area to bring every part of the process under a single roof.
“Typically, a foundation contractor would go and hire an excavation contractor, then a dewatering contractor, followed by a drilling contractor and a concrete contractor, essentially you’d end up with four or five subcontractors in one hole to construct a foundation.”
What made ECDNY unique from the beginning was the insistence on handling every part of the foundation process in-house. The primary benefit of this model is, of course, the ability to deliver work in a timely fashion by avoiding the inevitable delays caused by multiple subcontractors.
“If you’re not using any subcontractors, it’s better for the general contractor, with subcontractors, there’s always an excuse when, say, the driller doesn’t show up. We create overlap, which helps us get projects finished faster.”
Not only does this model save money and time by streamlining a process that is often held up by having too many cooks in the kitchen, but it also allows ECDNY to control every aspect of the foundation from the beginning, creating space for innovation at every step of the way.
Bringing European Innovation to Manhattan
While other foundation contractors have followed ECDNY’s one-stop shop model, the company has stayed ahead of the game by bringing the latest technology and techniques from the cutting-edge European market to the states.
“We introduced the very deep foundation elements that were being built in Europe to New York,” says McKenna. “All the drilling equipment we use comes from Germany, Italy, and Finland because they have the latest technology.”
One of the major innovations that ECDNY pioneered in the NYC market is deep soil mixing, a process that involves combining soil that’s already in the ground with a cement grout to create groundwater cut offs for excavation. The process has a number of advantages compared with the traditional methods of driving sheet piles or drilling, especially in places like Manhattan, where minimizing vibrations that could damage nearby infrastructure or buildings is paramount.
“With these new technologies, we can extend to depths of 140 feet,” says McKenna.
McKenna emphasizes that ECDNY isn’t reinventing the wheel, but rather bringing the best and newest foundation methods to the demanding NYC market.
“We have two pretty unique machines that will mix four holes in one go. No one else in New York has that,” he says. “We have another machine that’s capable of drilling piles up to 190 feet in a single pass. The closest machine that can do that is based in Florida.”
When they can’t find a machine to accomplish a task, ECDNY will fabricate one. “That’s another thing that makes us different,” says McKenna. “We can build and modify the equipment as we need.”
Going Tall by Going Deep
This innovative tech is particularly important when dealing with the close confines that characterize construction in New York City, where vibrations from pile driving can threaten neighboring buildings and criss-crossing MTA infrastructure poses major engineering headaches.
The ECDNY team talked us through some of the challenges they’d overcome and the techniques they’d developed when pouring foundations for some of the tallest buildings around the five boroughs for major developers including Related Companies, Durst, Carmel Partners, and many others.
Along with taking the most innovative equipment and techniques to these projects, having a strong, cohesive team of people is crucial for effective implementation. Our diverse teams bring different perspectives, skills and experience to each project, from the design phase through completion. We also have very strong relationships with the top engineering firms throughout the state. They reach out to us to learn our latest capabilities, equipment and techniques to see can it be utilized for cost savings in their designs.
Also, giving the Developers, Construction Managers and General Contractors the support and peace of mind that they know they are in the right hands. With all the coordination that has to be done for the different elements in each building, having strong teams provided by ECD allows the developers & CMs full forward focus on their projects. Good communication and collaboration, help ensure that everyone is on the same page. This is something that is important and we value very much at ECD.
“333 Schermerhorn was our first large project, and we ended up bridging the foundation over an MTA tunnel,” recalls McKenna. “That was the tallest building in Brooklyn when it was finished.”
ECDNY has been a major part of the Long Island City construction boom, pouring foundations and navigating MTA infrastructure at 42 Orchard Street, now the tallest building in Queens, 43-30 24th Street and City View Tower at 23-15 44th Drive, which stand the 2nd and 3rd tallest buildings in the borough.
Elsewhere in Queens, the company constructed a pile-supported platform at the Willets Point Development for NYC’s Economic Development Corporation. “We designed the piles and the platform to give them an economical way of doing the project,” explains McKenna. “We saved the city tens of millions of dollars on that job.”
In Manhattan, ECDNY just completed work for Clarkson Square, a full block development on the West Side Highway where they “designed the soil mix walls” around the site’s perimeter. “We cut the owner’s dewatering cost by two-thirds,” says McKenna.
Continuing to Innovate Up and Down the East Coast
Having established themselves in NYC, ECDNY has begun to work up and down the East Coast. Lately, the company has been branching out into marine foundation construction, including the heavy lift platform at the CT Port Authority State Pier.
“That’s where they’re going to assemble the turbines for the Long Island Wind Farm and load them onto barges,” says McKenna, who explains that, for marine projects, ECDNY is building equipment that can work from land and thus avoid working from barges being tidal impacted.
The company is also expanding into the Florida market, having completed foundation work on One Flagler and 575 Rosemary Avenue in West Palm Beach.
But the company’s bread and butter remain drilling piles and constructing foundations for tall buildings. “We’re opening up the market for deeper foundations for taller buildings to be done more economically,” says McKenna. “I didn’t invent the wheel. We’re just doing as best of a job as we can, to make the wheel spin faster.”
Reach out to ECDNY to learn more about their innovative foundations.