June 1, 2017

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Construction on the two-building Class A Office Mennica Legacy Tower, which will be comprised of a 35-story tower and a 10-story building located in the Central Business District of Warsaw, is progressing nicely. For this project Epstein is serving as the architect and engineer of record, as well as the design engineer for MEP and structural engineering services (Our friends at Goettsch Partners are the design architects).

The construction of the Mennica development, due to the sites relatively high water wall and the adjacent existing subway lines, is utilizing the Slurry Wall or Diaphragm Wall technique. Tom Suarez, PE, SE, Epsteins chief structural engineer and designer of Mennicas structural system explains what can be seen in the construction progress photos featured here:


Pictured is the progress of the top down construction sequence of the underground levels. Perimeter slurry (diaphragm) walls have been installed along with the foundation barrettes (caissons) before any general excavation of the site had occurred. Temporary steel columns support structural slabs that are placed on the soil starting at the highest basement level working downward. The soil is undermined from the slab above to the next basement level where another structural slab is placed on soil. The slabs act to brace the perimeter walls and prevent movement or collapse without extensive internal bracing members during the excavation process. This process is repeated for four basement levels until the foundation elevation is reached at which time the permanent columns are placed and the temporary steel columns can be removed.

Lastly, Mennica is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2019.