< PreviousWRITTEN BY EMMA KILCAWLEY HEMANI D rill Tech Drilling & Shoring Inc. was founded in 1994 by Shannon Creson and Dave Shupe, operat- ing as a small family business in northern California. Today, the company is an industry leader, specializing in geotechnical construction. Asked how the company has reached the pinnacle of its sector, Darin Gossett, Chief Operating Officer at Drill Tech explained, “Drill Tech combines forward-thinking leadership, innovation, highly intelligent staff in the field and office, and a never- say-die work ethic to all its projects and efforts.” These efforts of course, could not be achieved without a dedicated team. For Gossett, the capability of performing everything in-house is a major element in the company’s success. “Dedicated staff strive for excellence in all that they do for the company, [and] in-house engineering is a big key to Drill Tech’s success." | 20 MAY 2024Orinda Water Treatment Plant | 21 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONThe company provides a range of services including engi- neering design and consultation for the installation of earth retention systems, foundation support, underpinning systems, landslide stabilizations, ground treatments, new tunnels and shafts, tunnel retrofits, marine construction ser- vices, and dewatering systems. Drill Tech also offers a full turn-key service. With a team made up of civil engineers and construction managers it can support clients' projects from inception to the completed project. Gossett explained: “These managers provide engineering support services in-house throughout the lifecycle of the projects.” This ability to go beyond expectations is truly what sets the company apart from its competitors. For Gossett, providing a suite of services give its customers a rich experience that builds long-term relationships. “The diversity of the scopes of work that we are able to provide help us be more self-suffi- cient than perhaps our competition. It's one of our strengths - where there's a need, we pivot, we can do something that's outside of the base scope of work to keep the job moving forward, preventing the owner or our client from having to outsource it and be burdened with the time it takes to engage somebody else.” In the early days, the company grew by “working tirelessly in the field by day and in the office at night,” Gossett said. This dedication led to sustained growth and expansion due to the growing demand for its services. “What started as a small, home-grown business with a handful of employees has blossomed to a large company operating across the con- tinental United States with over 500 employees and offices in northern California, southern California, Nevada, Washington, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, and Maryland.” While the company has enjoyed success, it didn’t come without challenges. Gossett explained how its adaptable approach and the in-house ability to pivot when necessary has become an invaluable tool for the company. “As market conditions change over the years, construction companies have to adapt to survive. Drill Tech has embraced a constant state of change and evolution since its inception. The own- ers recognize that growth represents survival and success. Growth comes through advancements in our capabilities, we cannot expand our capabilities without taking on risks to try new things, to learn new techniques, and to be willing to take on the financial burden associated with a learning curve.” During the economic recession from 2008 to 2010 for exam- ple, the founders hired project managers. This foresight allowed the company to expand when the recovery finally came. As Gossett shares, this move enabled to company to maintain its trajectory and consolidate in preparation for the next phase. “In its 30-year history, Drill Tech has grown steadily with one exception. During the recession from 2008 to 2010, Drill Tech didn’t grow, but it didn’t shrink either. Drill Tech expanded its management team which propelled it for- ward by leaps and bounds coming out of 2010. During the Covid pandemic, for instance, Drill Tech grew in volume.” Anderson Dam | 22 MAY 2024DEMANDING CONDITIONS DEMAND JENNMAR. JENNMAR Civil offers a wide range of products used in supporting, building and rebuilding our infrastructure from above and below ground. Our strength lies in our ability to offer our customers solutions in every phase of their projects. We manufacture arch systems, girders, liner plates and Impact Resistant Laggings® and much more for your projects. Whether mining, rehabbing or re-supporting transportation, water, wastewater or infrastructure tunnels, JENNMAR Civil is backed by experienced engineers and technicians who are with you every step of the way, from initial consultation to qualified instruction and on-going technical support to make your project a success! For more information on our portfolio of diverse and complementary brands visit us at www.jennmar.com. GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS • (412) 963-9071 • PITTSBURGH, PA USA • WWW.JENNMAR.COM ability to offer our customers solutions in every phase of their projects. We manufacture arch systems, girders, liner plates and Impact Resistant Laggings® and much more for your projects. Whether mining, rehabbing or re-supporting transportation, water, wastewater or infrastructure tunnels, JENNMAR Civil is backed by experienced engineers and technicians who are with you every step of the way, from initial consultation to qualified instruction and on-going technical support to make your project a success! For more information on our portfolio of diverse and complementary brands visit us at www.jennmar.com. GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS • (412) 963-9071 • PITTSBURGH, PA USA • WWW.JENNMAR.COMThe company has completed a long list of successful proj- ects, including the Anderson Dam and Orinda WTP. Address- ing why these two projects stand out, Gossett noted, “They stand out for their complexity but also the success that we're achieving.” The Anderson Dam project was originally awarded for $161 million and is being completed for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Brian Harris, General Manager of the Mining & Tunneling Division at Drill Tech described it as a “seismic retrofit” of the already existing dam outside of Mor- gan Hill, CA. Santa Clara Valley Water District is the primary water supply entity for most of Silicon Valley. Harris explained, “The goal of the project was to replace the dam seismically, retrofit the dam and through that, they're going to install a new water supply system so that they can have a different outlet for future piping and distribution into their system.” For phase one, the company was the tunnelling subcon- tractor on the project, with responsibilities including portal construction with high-capacity ground anchors, shotcrete and shoring, along with large-capacity foundation systems for future outlet buildings. The company also drove around 1200 feet of tunnel around the existing dam. Despite it being a complex project, Harris explains how the company’s knowledge base allowed it to navigate any chal- lenges that arose. “Our expertise mitigated a lot of risks; we've done work for several decades in the area and we have knowledge of how the geology behaves and how the operations are made to be efficient. We did very well on the excavation - that is normally a fairly high-risk item for any tunnelling job, especially this one being that it was adjacent to an existing dam that was not taken out of service - it was in service the entire time and working on the job.” Anderson Dam Orinda Water Treatment Plant | 24 MAY 2024WE’RE A GROWING FAMILY. For more than 60 years and with more than 50 locations nationwide, Triple-S has grown into one of the largest steel distributors in North America. www.sss-steel.com The Orinda Water Treatment Plant is owned by the East Bay Municipal Utility District. Serving the San Francisco Bay Area of California. It is the “crown jewel” of the system, according to Mike Cox, Senior Project Manager at Drill Tech. For this project — which was awarded in the neighborhood of 230 million — the company worked on an upgrade to the water treatment plant and upgrading the treatment and piping systems. Cox explained, “There's a huge mechanical and electrical component to the work. The scope of work that Drill Tech is performing on that job boils down to shoring and foundations - this project touches on just about every type of shoring and foundation scope that we perform.” The team drilled and installed a secant pile cut-off wall for a shoring perimeter and a 65-foot-deep excavation. It also installed around 400 tiebacks and internal bracing in one of the larger pits, along with 175 tie-downs as part of the 60-foot-deep excavation to prevent buoyancy. Cox explained that Drill Tech is currently carrying out demolition at the port of the existing structures to maintain the majority of the structure. “That is pretty complicated in terms of supporting structures that are 75 to 100 years old, with steel bracing and demolishing them in a safe way so that they can be reused and upgraded to include the new piping.” The project is a prime example of the high-level of skills the company has at its disposal. With work being carried out inside an operational water treatment plant, the team must ensure that plant operations are not impacted. Cox added: “There's a lot of very stringent requirements in the design of the shoring and the demolition plan to make sure that the plant remains operational and that the working parts of the plant aren't damaged during construction.” With all this in mind, it is unsurprising that there is more growth on the horizon for Drill Tech in the coming months. Gossett goes on to explain that building its in-house team is a vital element of this trajectory. “Drill Tech will continue to grow by adding high-quality staff, looking for potential key acquisitions, and being willing to be bold in pursuit of new scopes of work that further diversify our value to the con- struction community.” With high quality and innovation, the company continues to have new opportunities to expand operations across the United States and will continue to interact with new com- panies, creating opportunities for new partnerships. How- ever, as Gossett shares, this growth could not be achieved without its team. “Drill Tech has shown great resilience to economic change. Growth may be measured in gross rev- enue or number of projects completed per year, however, internally, growth is measured by the number of key staff members employed at the company. Project managers and the supporting staff in the office and field are the link to the volume of business run at Drill Tech - Drill Tech doesn’t earn new business and then find staff to support the work, it hires high quality staff to support growth. New staff repre- sent gross revenue growth.” Orinda Water Treatment Plant “Drill Tech has shown great resilience to economic change.” | 25 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONWRITTEN BY DAVID O’NEILL A s a building material, concrete is as ubiquitous to the construction industry as anything else you could imag- ine. Historically, it has been used in construction for thousands of years and, despite the drive to replace it with more sustainable materials, it can be found on every jobsite on the planet. For good reason, too. There is no other build- ing material that offers the same durability, fire resistance and versatility. Coupled with the fact that it is extremely low maintenance and cost effective, you can see why it has been difficult to replace. That doesn’t mean, however, that concrete gets a free ride altogether. The industry has been aware of its limitations for some time. Concrete is an emissions heavy product that, in the modern construction landscape, is simply not fit for pur- pose. With the material being responsible for an astonishing 8% of global emissions alone, it is in dire need of upgrading. According to a report published by Princeton University, the product is a source of deep concern. “As a material that creates the majority of the world’s bridges, roads, dams, and construction, concrete releases an extreme amount CO2 each year. It’s the high- est consumed product on earth besides water. Until the overall emis- sions are cut worldwide, the environment will continue to be polluted with over 4 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually due to this industry.” However, as science and innovation develop, we are beginning to see various adaptations of concrete that can improve both its sustainability and strength. Processes such as carbon capture are removing the emissions during the production process while any number of technological inventions can be placed in the concrete to give it SMART features. Battery capabilities, reflective surfaces, traf- fic management, the list goes on. One element which is only now being investigated is that of bio-waste. | 26 MAY 2024| 27 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONThese days, coffee is sustainably sourced, ethically produced, and mostly consumed from reusable cups. But, aside from its great taste, is that where its positives end? While coffee grounds can be used as fertilizer, cleaning products and insect repellant, it has not been brought into the construction field, yet. Researchers at RMIT University in Australia may have changed that, however. It seems that, while benefitting the construction industry, there is also a growing need to find uses for our coffee waste. Incredibly, 11 million tons of coffee grounds are produced each year. Furthermore, this product emits greenhouse gases such as methane which are 21 times worse than CO2 for the climate. Researchers, led by Dr Rajeev Roychand, have discovered that coffee has the ability to make concrete up to 30% stronger than traditional mixes. This is achieved by turning the coffee grounds into biochar, a charcoal like substance made from burning organic material, through a low-energy process. According to Roychand, the research was borne of a need to address the challenges that accompany organic waste. “The disposal of organic waste poses an environmen- tal challenge as it emits large amounts of greenhouse gases including methane and carbon dioxide, which contribute to climate change. The inspiration for our work was to find an innovative way of using the large amounts of coffee waste in construction projects rather than going to landfills – to give coffee a ‘double shot’ at life.” The use of coffee grounds is beneficial for a variety of reasons. Its additional strength, coupled with the benefits of stopping the grounds from reaching landfill are reason enough for the project to be a success. There are additional, secondary benefits to the use of coffee biochar. Typically, sand would be used in the concrete process. However, global levels of sand are decreasing dramatically because of this drain. By adopt- ing coffee usage, natural sand could be left in-situ, which has tremendous ecological benefits. “The ongoing extraction of natural sand around the world–typically taken from riverbeds and banks–to meet the rapidly growing demands of the con- struction industry has a big impact on the environment. With a circular-economy approach, we could keep organic waste out of landfill and also better preserve our natural resources like sand. The inspiration for our work was to find an innovative way of using the large amounts of coffee waste in construction projects rather than sending it to landfills,” said Dr. Roychand. | 28 MAY 2024The research isn’t stopping there, either. According to Dr Mohammed Saberian, Co-researcher at RMIT University, var- ious other sources of biochar are readily available and could offer equally significant results. “Our research team has gained extensive experience in developing highly optimized biochars from different organic wastes, including wood biochar, food-waste biochar, agricultural waste biochar, and municipal solid-waste biochar, for concrete applications.” This view is echoed by Arup, an English consulting firm spe- cializing in urban planning. It points to the vast number of bio-materials currently being used in construction. From rice and mushroom bricks to potato peel insulation, the potential for biomaterials is enormous. The company recently produced a report, “The Urban Bio-loop,” into the viability of many of these techniques. “The use of organic waste and its untapped value could have a positive impact on the environment as well as technical, social, and economic standpoints. In the urban bio- loop, we identify a number of organic waste streams, together with their applications in building construction as products. These provide guidelines for designers and practitioners in replacing some of the traditional architectural products with equivalents made with organic waste as a resource.” The report identified six main fields of applications cur- rently used for natural materials. Interior partitions, furni- ture, acoustic absorption, thermal insulation, carpets, and envelope systems. Additionally, it found that increased use of biomaterials had enormous potential. “Use of organic waste would result in healthier products with a reduced environmental impact for the construction sector. In par- ticular when considering that these components could be returned to the biosphere at the end of their service life, thus releasing the embedded nutrients to the soil. To make pos- sible this transition it will be necessary a wide stakeholder engagement and the support of a regulatory framework that would allow an easier access to waste streams and make it a more attractive financial perspective.” www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2023/aug/coffee-concrete “Researchers, led by Dr Rajeev Roychand, have discovered that coffee has the ability to make concrete up to 30% stronger than traditional mixes.” | 29 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONNext >