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Nickelodeon Hotel adds
water park to courtyard; He may live in a pineapple under the sea, but if SpongeBob SquarePants® were to visit Orlando, Florida, he would certainly stay at the Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn. And, thanks to Welbro Building Corporation of Maitland, Florida, SpongeBob or any family visitors to the Nick Hotel can enjoy “The Lagoon;” a state-of-the-art, interactive playground and water park built entirely within the east courtyard of the hotel. Welbro built and completed the hotel in 1999 for project owner Holiday Inn Family Suites, and are currently on track to complete the $13 million water-park installation by March 31, 2005. The Nickelodeon Family Suites officially opens in Spring 2005. Overcoming Limited Access to Courtyard The east courtyard is completely surrounded by the hotel’s four, six-story buildings, providing extremely limited access for any construction equipment or materials. All equipment either needed to be lifted over the buildings, or brought in through a 10 x 10 ft.-wide access corridor. Therefore, Welbro brought in equipment only big enough to fit through the small passage. Shoring Challenges… The limited access problem posed a very unique challenge when three pits needed to be dug and shored for the installation of three pour-in-place concrete water tanks. “Initially, the water vaults were intended to go more than 9 ft. underground,” explains George State, Welbro Building Corp.’s Senior Project Superintendent. “With a pit that deep, normally we would have used either sheet piling or a trench box.” However, due to the courtyard’s limited access, sheet piling or trench boxes were not viable options. Sheet piling would need to be brought over the building by crane, and then piled blind from the outside of the building. To bring a properly rated trench box over the building, would pose extremely dangerous conditions. Finding a Solution To decrease the
needed depth-rating of a pit shoring system, Welbro made the decision to install
the three personnel-accessible water vaults to only a depth of State called Richard Knight, sales representative with United Rentals-Trench Safety in Orlando, for possible shoring options. Knight then contact Efficiency Production, Inc.; a national trench shielding and shoring manufacturer well know for solving specialized trench shoring problems. “When I called Efficiency’s Director of Engineering Mike West, he immediately assured me that their Build-A-Box Modular Trench Shielding System would be perfect for this unique challenge,” recalls Knight. “We rent a lot of Build-A-Box, but never for anything with this large a configuration. I was amazed when I saw Mike’s drawings,” Knight added. West designed Build-A-Box configurations which utilized a series of Hi-Clearance Arches that properly and sufficiently shored the 24 x 29 ft., 24 x 32 ft., and 14 x 25 ft. water vault pits. And, more importantly, the Hi-Clearance Arches and all the Build-A-Box components could be carried into the hotel courtyard by hand. “Once we had the solution on paper, I then needed the Arches right away,” Knight said. “Efficiency rushed the production and delivery of the Arches to Orlando, and there was no down-time for Welbro.” Easy Installation of Build-A-Box Aids Contractor With just a couple of day-laborers and a foreman, State’s crew carried into the courtyard and installed:
State had not used the Efficiency Build-A-Box system before, but now sees many applications for it. “The Build-A-Box has been a great system, it went together real easy,” remarked State. “In the Orlando area, almost all the near-Disney hotels are adding a more advanced pool system or water park, so I’m sure we’ll use the Build-A-Box again for similar jobs.” State praised United Rental’s Richard Knight for his assistance which included overseeing the initial Build-A-Box installation. “Richard has been such a great help. He and Efficiency really came up with this solution, and helped make it work for us. We’d be dead in the water without him,” noted State. Welbow Sight Manager Danny Duboise added, “The (Build-A-Box) was so easy to move around by hand and it was great not having to mess with a lot of equipment.” Efficiency Production’s Mike West had this to say about the project: “When we designed and engineered the Build-A-Box system, we envisioned many different applications for the modular unit. This job in Orlando is really a Build-A-Box vision brought to reality. This was the perfect job for Build-A-Box, and Build-A-Box was the perfect solution for the job.” Sight Conditions and Equipment The Build-A-Box was also ideal in that it could be installed very close to the buildings without any sloping. Welbro also replaced whatever utilities were originally installed in the courtyard, however they were in close proximity to each other and did not impact the water tank installation. Florida has some of the worst soil conditions in the country, with some areas exhibiting swamp-like conditions. For excavation purposes, all soil is considered Type C soil. Welbro had to dewater the ground for three days before digging, and then added a foot of rock for stabilization. Again, the tight configuration of the courtyard was an issue, with the buildings applying a surcharge to the interior soil. State even considered adding chemical grout to the soil to add stability, but was not entirely confident in that option’s effectiveness. The only heavy equipment used for this project was what could fit down the access passage, including three track-hoes (two IHI, one Bobcat), and one TCM front-loader. Engineering and Design A number of strong companies and engineers had a role in this project, including:
The assembled components, including a four-story interactive water tower, will be brought over the building into the interior courtyard by a Hydraulic Crane.
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