Story

The Innovation Town Center project is a combination of residential, office, and commercial development including public improvement road construction. William A. Hazel, Inc. was responsible for performing all the excavation and site development for this mixed-use community located on 90 acres in Manassas, VA. This work included clearing and grubbing, erosion and sediment controls, mass earthwork, rock drilling and blasting, sanitary and storm sewer, waterline installation, and road construction. In addition, we had the unusual challenge of installing a massive precast underground stormwater detention system (UGD). This was the largest UGD ever set by W.A. Hazel with a volume capacity of 84,000 CF and overall dimensions of 210’ L x 50’ W x 9’ H consisting of 60 precast modules and 20 grade/link slabs. Each module was delivered and set in two pieces (bottom and top - see attached pic) with each piece weighing 12 Tons. Planning and communication, in conjunction with safety, were vital from the beginning for this project-within-a-project. Creating a lay schedule for bottoms and tops and coordinating with the precast concrete manufacturing team from Oldcastle Infrastructure for production timeline and sequential deliveries made picking and setting each one of the 160 pieces a smooth operation. We worked with our safety department to ensure everyone involved was aware of the hazards and had proper PPE and implemented fall prevention measures. The excavation work was performed spot-on by our earthwork crew and the leveling/bedding course was performed meticulously by our grade crew. Rolling out the geotextile fabric and waterproof liner (which came in one piece big enough to wrap up the 9’ high sides with 1’ overlap on top of the structure) required many additional hands. Great teamwork by everyone involved with the liner pull operation and in setting all 160 pieces beating the estimated production by two days. Despite wet weather and dealing with the challenges of rock, clay, undercutting unsuitable soil, and coordinating with the neighboring site at George Mason University, W.A. Hazel committed to fulfilling our promise to Stanley Martin Homes to achieve their aggressive substantial completion milestones for the Innovation Town Center development.