Threading the Needle

For more than a decade, the Maine Medical Center's flagship campus has undergone a $500+ million modernization project. The final part consists of constructing the Malone Family Tower, a six-story structure for improved cardiovascular care and surgery. The medical center's signature facility will replace an existing 1970s employee parking garage located at the base of the campus. The project team used innovative solutions to design an earth retention system that facilitated the 40- to 80-ft-deep excavation needed for the new structure's foundations while maintaining the stability of surrounding structures. It was crucial that the construction not disrupt MMC's essential utility trunks running directly between the main surgical building and the proposed facility (Figure 1).