The result is that thick steel girder beams will run across the ceiling in regular intervals. Then a reinforced concrete floor (or more usually, a concrete over metal deck floor) rests on top of the joists and the girders. Resting on top of these girder beams are joists that span the girder beams. Steel structures rely on the large girder beams resting on columns as the main support. Minimizing floor-to-floor height while maximizing ceiling height.įirst, we must understand the difference between steel structures and reinforced concrete. Why is this? My main hypothesis is that it comes down to two factors:ġ. Steel structures are designed for commercial office buildings, and reinforced concrete is designed for residential buildings. That's the case for most residential condo buildings here in NYC as well. I believe it's because the flexibility and swaying that's unavoidable in steel buildings during "minor" tremors would unnerve residents in buildings full of them. NBC News reported in 2016 via a public records request that the Millennium Tower was previously expected by its builders to settle a maximum of 5.5 inches by the year 2028.As a general rule of thumb, in San Francisco office towers are structural steel-framed with concrete elevator cores, of course, but residential buildings are nearly all reinforced concrete like the Millennium tower. SFDBI said they would inspect between each additional pilot pile installation to ensure work was proceeding as expected. the new proposal will need a revised permit to proceed," Hannan added. "Assuming we continue to receive information in a timely manner, we aim to complete our review by February 28. In a statement to NBC News, spokesperson Patrick Hannan said SFDBI and the Engineering Design Review Team are "currently reviewing the proposed revised plan - which we only recently received." In a Thursday letter to the Millennium Tower Association, the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection said it approved a modified procedure to continue the preexisting pilot pile installation plan, and was reviewing Hamburger's revised retrofit proposal. In an email, Douglas Elmets, spokesperson for the Millennium Tower Homeowners Association, said the perimeter pile plan won't stop the building's sinking "until the piles are driven into bedrock and attached to the foundation, which will occur later this year." That gap between excavating and injecting grout went against protocol and "could very well explain the comparatively rapid settlement and tilting that occurred during pile installation in August." In an exclusive investigation, NBC Bay Area reported Wednesday that an expert review of the perimeter pile upgrade plan found there was a one- to four-day-long delay in summer 2021 between excavating the soil for the existing six pilings and injecting grout to minimize soil collapse. "We judge that the 18-pile solution offers an optimal solution between additional settlement and benefit gained." In a question and answer document, the engineer said if more than 18 piles are installed, "the construction schedule will be extended, and the building will settle and tilt a little more during this period." Hamburger said the 18 steel piles will be anchored into bedrock 250 feet under the tower, cutting through rapidly compressing clay and sand soil that the building's foundation sits upon today. To relaunch the stabilization, Hamburger on Thursday proposed slashing the number of support piles beneath the tower from 52 to 18 to "minimize additional building settlement."Ī letter to the Millennium Tower’s general manager last month said the new, quicker fix was needed after engineers identified two potential causes for apparent worsening of the building’s settlement: “vibration of the soils associated with pile installation activity, and unintentional removal of excessive soil as the piles were installed.” Engineers halted construction on the fix in summer 2021 so they could “determine why increased foundation movement was occurring and how this could be mitigated.” The tower sits beside the Salesforce Transit Center, a bus terminal and potential future rail terminus for California’s high speed rail network currently under construction.īut efforts to stabilize the sinking and leaning skyscraper seemed to worsen matters. Residents were informed that the building is settling unevenly and more than anticipated in 2016.
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