Shoring Construction

TerraCana installs shoring systems for excavations across British Columbia, with the technology and field experience to protect your excavation safely and cost effectively.

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What Is Shoring Construction?

Shoring is the installation of vertical bending members and/or horizontal tiebacks for the purposes of securing a wall face to allow for excavation to the desired depth. The goal of any shoring system is to allow for the excavation to proceed with minimal impact to the site and surrounding buildings in the most cost-effective manner.

Why do I need shoring?

In the ever growing and densifying cities and towns of British Columbia shoring of trenches and building excavations is becoming an increasing necessity for many excavations due to the proximity of neighboring structures and facilities.

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Shoring Applications

01

Underground Parkades and Residential Developments

Multi-level underground excavations in dense urban environments require shoring to protect neighbouring structures and maintain safe working conditions throughout construction.

02

Dyke Walls and Flood Protection

Sheet pile shoring provides a continuous barrier for dyke walls and flood protection structures where water cutoff and soil retention are critical requirements.

03

Institutional and Community Facilities

Large institutional projects require shoring systems designed to handle variable soil conditions while meeting strict structural performance and quality verification standards.

04

Utility and Infrastructure Projects

Shoring adjacent to active utilities and infrastructure requires precise design and installation to maintain safe operations and minimize disruption throughout construction.

Types of Shoring

Sheet Pile Permanent or Temporary Shoring

Sheet piles are an interlocking formed plate of steel designed to provide continuous shoring. This driven pile solution is great for deep excavations or where water cutoff is important.

H-Pile & Plated Shoring

Often used for temporary shoring, this type of system is best used in shallower applications. H-Pile and plate shoring is also frequently used in conjunction with sheet piles for bridging utility crossings.

H-Pile and Timber Lagged Shoring

This type of shoring can be installed with either large diameter drill rigs or using pile driving methods depending on depth and soil type. In some cases, TerraCana is even able to install the timber lagging before excavation has even started.

Drilled Pipe Pile Shoring

This type of shoring is most often installed with 4.5″ diameter pipe and micropile drill rigs. Typically used in smaller excavations on their own or in larger excavations with tiebacks or bracing. Pipe pile shoring is often also used in conjunction with shotcrete systems.

Walers

In most excavations if a waler system can be introduced the cost of the shoring can be reduced. TerraCana usually installs their own waler systems and bracing. In trench applications TerraCana utilizes custom removeable designs to ensure ease of access and excavation for our clients.

Advantages of Shoring

Cost and Time Competitive

TerraCana delivers foundations equally as reliable as alternative technologies but for a fraction of the cost and construction time, as demonstrated on the Pandora Avenue residential tower project in Victoria.

Works in Restricted Access Sites

Using the Movax Sonic Vibratory Pile Driver, TerraCana is able to reduce the amount of equipment required for installation to a single vehicle, allowing work to proceed on steep sites with very narrow access points.

Minimal Site Disturbance

TerraCana’s approach and equipment selection allows shoring to be completed efficiently and with minimal site disturbance, protecting neighbouring structures and surrounding areas throughout the excavation process.

Custom Solutions for Difficult Soil Conditions

TerraCana uses computer-generated models to design piles and installation tools that work within the specific soil conditions of each site, including variable fill, glacial till, dense deposits, and buried debris.

There are significant benefits from a structural and design perspective

Need a Foundation Solution for restricted access or difficult ground conditions?

Dealing with obstructions

Every site presents different challenges. TerraCana’s field experience and in-house engineering mean we’ve developed practical solutions for the ground conditions that stop other contractors.

Irregular Soil & Coordinating With Active Site

The South Surrey Interceptor trench sat in variable infill soils — cobbles, sands, and silt — making a standard sheet pile wall unsuitable. TerraCana manufactured custom drilling tools and designed a reusable adjustable bracing system, completing the work in tight coordination with the prime contractor’s pipe installation schedule.

Soft Ground & Limited Machine Access

On a residential site on Adanac Street in East Vancouver, soft soil caused the Hitachi machine to sink and forced the pile depth down from 20 to 11 feet. TerraCana installed swamp pads to distribute equipment weight and added a waler and strut system to maintain structural integrity at the reduced depth.

Live High-Voltage Infrastructure

At the Mainwaring Substation in Vancouver, 32 soldier piles had to be pre-drilled and driven directly adjacent to live high-voltage infrastructure. TerraCana completed the full scope in less than one month.

Active Road With Traffic Maintained

At the Mt. Lehman Overpass in Abbotsford, TerraCana provided temporary shoring for an existing overpass as part of the Highway 1 widening project. 9 H-piles at 40 feet and 8 sheet piles at 30 feet — fast mobilisation, fast install, fast demobilisation alongside an active highway. URL to be confirmed when published

See it in action

Case studies

Testimonials

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