Earthworks in full swing

Beautiful spring weather is contributing to swift work at the construction sites. The general contractor of the investment, the company NDI SA, has commenced another stage of the plan which is to erect reinforced concrete construction elements of the building shell. The main elements of the underground level will be mounted, i.e. reinforced concrete slabs, piles, walls and the foundation slab. Also, earthworks are in progress in two sections with the top-down construction method, and in one section with an open excavation. The former one is of special importance due to its complexity.

The top-down method is used for construction of underground levels based on diaphragm walls and temporary posts, i.e. barrettes. Its greatest advantage is that it significantly limits the size of the excavation. The technique was first used in the 1960s for the construction of the metro system in Milan, thus it’s often called the Milan method. In Poland it was used during the construction of the Warsaw metro station ‘Ratusz’ and then ‘Marymont’, to name but a few. Now it is also used for the construction of Plac Zamkowy – Business with Heritage.