Hemet Elementary Reconstruction
Project Summary
Due to settling issues, the City of Hemet’s oldest schoolhouse, built in 1927, incurred significant structural damage, and the school was determined to be unsafe and closed permanently in 2009. Hemet Unified School District’s decision to reconstruct the school on the original site was part of a $32 million restoration that included a state-of-the-art campus designed to retain the look and feel of the original 1927 building.
Our Role
IFE was retained by the Hemet Unified School District to perform supplemental geotechnical exploration, sampling and analysis for the new campus construction. Because of the existing soil conditions and foundation requirements, we evaluated multiple foundation options, including but not limited to cast-in-place concrete piles, vibro-stone columns (VSCs), and deep mixing method (DMM). DMM was selected as the most cost-effective ground improvement alternative for the site and saved HUSD over $2 million over other ground improvement and foundation alternatives.
Our work on the Hemet Elementary Reconstruction project has recently been honored by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) with an Honor Award for the 2018 Engineering Excellence Awards. The Honor Award is the highest level of award given to select firms for their excellence in engineering.
This project also received an award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for Outstanding Civil Engineering Geotechnical Project in 2018.
Our services provided on this project included the following.
Investigations & Reports:
- Settlement evaluation
- Additional subsurface exploration and feasibility study
- Geotechnical investigation report
- Infiltration testing report
- Supplemental geotechnical exploration and sampling deep mixing method ground improvement;
- Final observation and Testing Report;
- Deep mixing method ground improvement;
- Final compaction testing report.
Services:
- Logging, sampling, and analysis for subsurface investigations
- Geological, geoseismic, and liquefaction analysis
- Logging, sampling, and inspection during DMM construction
- Observation and compaction testing during construction
- ACI, ICC, and AWS special inspection
- Sieve analysis, sand equivalent, and maximum-density tests of trench backfill and imported pipe bedding
