Fix for Millennium Tower Pile Upgrade Going Well

There was no measurable settlement during the Dec. 1-3 drilling for the second permanent pilot pile installed at the northwest corner of the troubled Millennium Tower in San Francisco, says Ronald O. Hamburger, engineer-of-record for the perimeter pile upgrade designed to stem settlement of the 645-ft-tall residential condominium. Assuming a complete base-mat survey confirms no subsequent settlement caused by the pile work, which was finished Dec. 5, crews will install a third pile, midway along the tower’s west side, the week of Dec. 13. “That should enable us to provide the city with the data they need to allow production work to resume,” says Hamburger, who halted the foundation upgrade on Aug. 20, after the discovery that the fix had actually accelerated settlement by 1 in., for a total of 18 in.