Savery Hall Renovation

University of Washington, Seattle

At the southwest corner of the University of Washington's iconic Liberal Arts Quad sits the elegant Savery Hall constructed in collegiate-gothic architectural style. In a continued effort to preserve and modernize their beautiful historic buildings, the University of Washington renovated the 90+ year-old building between 2006 and 2009.

Renovations to the Savery Hall and its underlying network of utility tunnels required large excavations adjacent to and, in some cases, below the building's heavily loaded column footings. The magnitude and locations of these excavations necessitated the design and implementation of a shoring and underpinning system that would limit footing displacements to approximately the thickness of two sheets of paper. Because the remainder of the renovation depended on completing the below ground work first, any excess time spent in design of a shoring and underpinning system would cause delays in the student occupation of Savery Hall scheduled for the fall quarter of 2009.

HWA GeoSciences Inc. (HWA) and the design team developed an unusual shoring and underpinning system that allowed the contractor to renovate critical portions of Savery Hall and the UW's tunnel network without inducing damage to the building or delays in the schedule. This design was taken from concept to construction in less than 3 weeks. The team implemented a highly elaborate and necessary pre-stressing application utilizing conventional materials and techniques in an innovative manner. HWA's contributions were noticed in solving every constraint and helped reduce costs to the University.

HWA received a Gold Award at the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Washington's 2010 Engineering Excellence Awards for Future Value to the Engineering Profession.