The Cumberland Square Redevelopment located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was completed with three storeys above grade and one level of underground parking. The building has the potential for an additional nine storeys to be added to allow for the commercial development to keep up with the growth of the city without further redevelopment being required.

Driven, open-end steel pipe piles were considered as a cost-effective foundation option. In consultation with the project Owner (Concorde Group Corp.), it was decided to complete pile driving analyzer (PDA) testing on pre-production (i.e., design phase) test piles in the hopes of optimizing the pile design and reducing foundation costs. Following the design-phase PDA testing, the geotechnical design parameters were optimized and the geotechnical resistance factor was increased. The increase in geotechnical design parameters and resistance factor, served to reduce the required pile diameters/lengths and pile cap sizes, resulting in a net cost saving of approximately $1 million on the project. This cost savings included reduction in pile and pile cap materials, excavation and time cost considerations.

This project work has been accepted in the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) 2020 conference.