The Federal Correctional Institution in Berlin, New Hampshire is situated on a 700-acre site and includes a medium security main facility, a minimum security camp facility, a utility / warehouse complex and a wastewater treatment facility.
S.W.COLE was retained by several firms to provide different services on the $270M project. First retained in the early stages of the project to provide geotechnical engineering services by Tetra Tech Rizzo, S.W.COLE was retained by Bell / Heery the following year to provide construction materials testing services, including field and laboratory testing of concrete, soil and masonry, structural steel inspections and observations of site preparation and footing sub-grades. S.W.COLE supplied the project with a mobile laboratory and office to assist in servicing the project locally.
The Federal Correctional Institution, which has a total of 680,000 square feet of building space, is four stories high in some parts of the building. The building areas are surrounded by both Portland cement concrete (PCC) and hot mix asphalt pavement. S.W.COLE found the site soils to consist of silt, sand and gravel (glacial till) with shallow groundwater. Cuts and fills were on the order of 25 feet, and S.W.COLE developed recommendations and parameters for re-use of most of the on-site soils.
S.W.COLE’s clients on this project benefitted from our experience working on large earthwork sites with frost susceptible soils in winter conditions. Our experience with these conditions allowed the project to successfully proceed through three winters in the often-harsh northern New Hampshire climate.
