BC Hydro faced the challenge of installing 240 tower foundations over 73 linear kilometres of diverse and consistently difficult terrain from Dawson Creek to Chetwynd. These towers consisted of 170 monopoles and 70 lattice towers, all designed to accommodate differing geotechnical conditions over the length of the project.

Alberta Transportation and Highline Minuteman Electric needed to install street lights along the stretch oh the Queen Elizabeth Highway in Red Deer known as Gasoline Alley. This road is a twinned highway that frequently supports passenger and commercial vehicles at all hours, which meant the Almita crew had to be quick to keep traffic flowing and be focused on safety while working between the busy north and south lanes.

How do you get a 100-ton load across a bridge with a 20-ton capacity? That was the question faced by one of Almita’s energy sector clients. The client needed to transport a 100-ton compressor across a small private bridge that was only designed to carry 20-tonnes and their timelines were tight. Presented with a thorny problem, the client contacted Almita Piling Inc.

Almita worked with EPC Bantrel to design foundations for the supply line portion of the expansion of the Hangingstone SAGD facility owned by JACOS. Almita was contracted by Bantrel in October 2013 to design and fabricate helical piles and started installation in November 2013. This project included converting wellpad foundation designs from driven piles to helical piles while working within budget and meeting tight project timelines.

Biosar America LLC was contracted by Enel Green Power North America to work on 16 different project sites in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. The client needed foundations for inverter cabins on this 150 MW solar project as well as foundations and poles for their network of CCTV cameras. The project faced a compressed schedule from initial contact to scheduled project completion, and geotechnical reports indicated many of the sites contained soil that was filled with cobbles. Initially, Almita’s role on this project was limited to supplying the necessary helical piles.

Public Service Electric & Gas Company in partnership with a joint venture between Kiewit Power, Henkels & McCoy, and Aldridge Electric needed to replace 17 aging lattice towers for an existing line along the Passaic River near Newark, New Jersey. The towers’ proximity to the river created a number of challenges for the project, such as site access issues due to the changing water levels of the tides, extremely soft soils, and the need for extra corrosion protection from the saltwater. We also faced the additional challenge of building a portion of the line over an old landfill.

Graham was tasked with constructing a funicular for the City of Edmonton in its iconic urban river valley. The project was originally designed for an alternate foundation system, but the river valley’s steep and environmentally sensitive terrain required the adaptability of a helical pile foundation. The project’s location was adjacent to a luxury hotel in the city’s downtown core, which meant our operation had to be quick and quiet to not disturb the hotel’s guests and residents in the area, all while staying within the client’s timeline and budget constraints.

Working for site owners ConocoPhillips Canada and Total E&P Canada, our client, Bantrel Management Services, required a foundation solution for the construction of a Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage plant in the Alberta oil sands. The Surmont 2 project involved multiple buildings and industrial facilities. The engineering and construction team wanted to determine the best solution: driven piles or screw piles?