Brooklyn-based residential developer Rabsky Group has become one of the biggest names in residential development in both Brooklyn and Queens. You can imagine how excited the Big Apple Monitoring team was to hear we were being tapped as their preferred Civil Engineering firm to oversee Construction Monitoring of what could be one of Brooklyn’s tallest buildings. The 941-foot, 79-story tower will include offices, residential units, retail space, a school and indoor and outdoor community spaces for cultural performances and events.

All hands on deck! Monitoring the construction of this skyscraper is a multifaceted approach using the latest in modern technology. As usual, the Big Apple team is brought in before the beginning of the Support of Excavation (SOE) phase. But the sheer size of this development and nearby MTA Subway Tunnel called for an in depth monitoring protocol involving the use of Automated Total Stations, Inclinometers, Tilt Meters and Vibration Monitoring both in the MTA Tunnel and above ground.

An inclinometer or slope indicator has been installed at the neighboring property 80 Dekalb Street to evaluate the amount of lateral movement of the ground during construction activities. The data gathered will allow project engineers with the necessary data to monitor subsurface deformations of the ground under 80 Dekalb while SOE operations are underway. While the subway tunnel underneath has a total of 24 seismographs performing vibration monitoring during construction activities along the NYCTA influence zones.