Slurry wall construction begins on the Phillip and Susan Ragon Building

Beginning in May, the very first pieces of the Phillip and Susan Ragon Building were put in place with the construction of a slurry wall. The slurry plant – nine large tanks – arrived to the construction site to mark the beginning of this exciting new phase, which will be ongoing for the next 3 to 5 months.

A slurry wall is used to build reinforced concrete walls to provide a foundation element to support the building, and to prevent groundwater from getting into the underground building. More than 50% of the overall perimeter of slurry wall panels have been put in place since this phase began, with an average of four panels being placed in the ground each week.

A clamshell-shaped bucket will excavate down between two concrete guide walls, creating a trench for a panel section, about 10 to 25 feet wide, of the slurry wall. This trench is filled with a slurry mixture of water and bentonite – a clay material – during excavation to keep the trench from collapsing. Once excavated to the desired depth, 100 feet or more, reinforcing steel cages – being built this week – are lowered into the trench and placed with concrete, displacing the slurry mixture to be reused for the next panel section. When these concrete-filled cages cure, they form the walls and the interior columns of the enclosed area of what will be the Ragon Building’s parking garage.