In 1966 Frank Maxwell founded Hub Foundation Co., Inc. His son Jim joined him in 1970 and took over management of the company in 1981. Jeff and Greg, who now run the jobs, joined the firm after earning degrees at Tufts University. Alissa, now a project manager, graduated from Hamilton College.
In its four-decade history Hub has completed nearly 800 contracts under diverse, and sometimes difficult, conditions. Over the years Hub has evolved from one of New England's largest pile driving outfits to become a leader in the drilled shaft market in and around Boston. Our Liebherr 895 crane recently solved some very difficult access issues in Albany. We've been experimenting with a Liebherr LRB-255 drill rig, which is set up to do secant piles up to 60 feet deep and continuous flight auger (CFA) piles three feet in diameter, 80 feet deep. We're also using small-diameter drilling equipment for minipiles, tiebacks, and rock anchors. Visit our Projects page to see more about our latest jobs.
Challenging past projects include:
C17A6 Central Artery / Tunnel, Boston
We installed hundreds of drilled-in-place H-beams and drilled shafts for a crucial portion of the Central Artery / Tunnel project. All the holes were in close proximity to highway and street traffic; many were over 100 feet deep.
C19E1/E6 Slurry Wall Remediation, Boston
We were lowered into a partially built tunnel to install four-foot diameter shafts about 60 feet deep. The procedure was particularly challenging with walers and struts impeding us above ground and boulders and sloped rock below ground. Artesian well conditions added to the complications. We also completed hundreds of drilled-in-place H-beams for a cut-and-cover tunnel and a few dozen other drilled shafts on the same contract near Leverett Circle.
Cliff Road, Nantucket, MA
We put our small drill rig on the ferry and sailed over to Nantucket, where we installed a dozen heavy soldier beams to protect an excavation for a Cliff Road mansion. The house was temporarily moved off location and an additional level of foundation was installed below grade (including a nice wine cellar).
Bridge for Route 2, Arlington, MA
A bridge at the nexus of routes 2 and 16 and the Alewife T station required 70 abutment piles. We installed the 180-foot piles with traffic streaming above and pedestrain acess on site. We adapted our Soilmec 825 to drive the piles to refusal after pre-drilling.
Truman School Sewer Overflow Tank, New Haven
Our Soilmec 930, which uses the traditional Kelly bar method, and Liebherr LRB-255, which uses the CSP/CFA method, installed over 100 shafts in a secant pile wall foundation to support an excavation for a DEP-mandated sewer overflow storage tank.
Green Line Science Park MBTA Station, Boston
We drilled eight-foot shafts under partially obstructed headroom conditions to support the new trolley line. The reinforcement cage had to be fabricated above the hole in short sections, bar by bar. We had to keep the hole open for three days while the cage was placed.
Mohawk Valley Physicians Office Building and Parking Garage, Schenectady, NY
Contractor: BBL Construction Services
We drilled 80 shafts of three-, four-, and five-foot diameter as deep as 160 feet. Two Osterberg tests showed that the local till could support very high loads, saving the owner over $200,000 by reducing the size and socket depth of the shafts. Jeff knocked the green out Albany's cast of characters in Hub's first foray into the Upstate New York drilled shaft market.
Relocation of Route 146, Millbury, MA
Four separate contracts for two general contractors. Drilled over 100 holes varying in diameter from 42 inches to 60 inches to support 12 bridges as Route 146 criss-crosses the Blackstone River. Our first use of a casing oscillator, which allowed us to install casing to a depth of 80 feet.
Drilled in Place Earth Retaining System, 440 Mass. Ave., Arlington, MA
Contractor: Congress Construction
We furnished and installed soldier beam and lagging system in a residential environment with minimal noise and vibration. Accuracy was required in the placement of the soldier beam wall so that it could be used as one side of a concrete form for the foundation wall.
Federal Highway Administration University of Massachusetts Test Site, Amherst, MA
Route 3A Bridge, Marshfield, MA
Twelve shafts, each four feet in diameter, up to 110 feet below grade to support a new bridge. The end-bearing capacity and side-wall capacity were be checked with jacks placed at the bottom of the shafts and 20 feet up from the bottom. A double Osterberg load test confirmed the engineer's design. This job marked the debut of our second SoilMec 930, the largest drilling rig SoilMec has built to date. For more information, click on the image at right.
399 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
We picked up pre-cast concrete piles 130-feet long in a downtown area while maintaining vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The site was only 70 by 200 feet in area.
53 State Street, Boston, MA
We installed a soldier beam and lagging system to an excavated depth of 30 feet in the midst of old streets and utilities. We then drove piles in the hole as a façade, maintained for historical purposes, loomed six stories high. An unplanned move could have toppled the wall with disastrous consequences.
Lechmere Galleria, Cambridge, MA
Contractor: Beaver Builders
We installed 3,000 lineal feet of permanent sheeting and jacked raker system for an excavation up to 40 feet deep. Immediately adjacent to our work was a new building with footings 15 feet above the excavation. The site was on a filled-in portion of the Charles River and was dewatered with a two-inch pump.
Route 2 Emergency Bypass, Florida, MA
Contractor: F&J Construction
The road here regularly suffered a slope failure and ran off into the Deerfield River. The state had tried holding up the road with every imaginable means, and we had to drill through the results. We installed 36 soldier beams into three-foot diameter holes pre-drilled up to 12 feet in hard rock. This job was featured on the cover of New England Construction.
Route 2 Widening, Lincoln, MA
Contractor: G. Conway Inc.
We designed and installed 41 soldier piles to facilitate the widening of this road near an environmentally sensitive area. The beams varied in length from 23 to 39 feet; we placed them up to 25 feet deep in fill consisting of boulders, some of which were larger than the 54-inch diameter casing. Beams up to 36 inches wide required coring 48-inch diameter holes. A cantilever design by James C. Schrock, P.E., allowed traffic to run unimpeded next to a cut as much as 19 feet without tiebacks near the existing gas main or bracing into the wetlands.
Franciscan Hospital, Brighton, MA
Contractor: Jackson Construction
We placed five-foot diameter, load-bearing shafts on rock that was found to be sloping. We were required to level off the rock prior to placing rebar and concrete.
Groton Submarine Base, Groton, CT
The Navy required a new dock in an area where there was little material over the rock. In order to secure the dock and the fender system, we installed 123 piles that were predrilled with a down hole hammer as deep as 25 feet into the granite. The holes were 18 to 20 inches in diameter, and all piles were placed to within .75 inch tolerance for a pre-cast deck system to be installed.
Utility Relocation, Central Artery/Tunnel Project, Boston, MA
We have been active on contracts C14A2, C14B1, C14C2, C14C4, C17A1, C17A2, C17A9, C19B8, C19E1, and C19E7. We have drilled and placed soldier piles in low-headroom situations under the existing central artery, and in high-traffic situations including Kneeland Street. We have also performed night-shift work on Causeway Street.
Media Play Stores, Cincinnati, OH
Contractor: ZVI Corp.
We drilled load-bearing shafts for stores being remodeled in the Cincinnati area. We provided layout and furnished and tied cages and concrete for a Boston general contractor that needed a full-service drilled shaft contractor.
Sound Wall Installation, Exton, PA
Contractor: U.S. Drilling
Perhaps the nicest compliment comes when your competitor calls you to help him when it gets overloaded with work. U.S. Drilling asked us to fill in for several weeks until the company got its workload under control. We drilled three-foot diameter holes up to five feet into limestone rock. Accurate placement of the hole was critical due to the pre-cast nature of the sound barrier wall.
Bridge Reconstruction, Waterbury, CT
This contract involved retaining an active railroad track. We drilled holes up to 38 feet deep with our casing as close as two inches off the ties. The railroad bed consisted of 23 feet of fill, much of it boulders. Cutting shoes on the bottom of the casing allowed us to use the casing to core through some of the obstructions. Railroad inspectors and state highway engineers, who were concerned about the loss of ground outside the casing, monitored track elevation closely.
Route 202 Bridge, Templeton, MA
We drilled 12 holes next to freight railroad tracks to support a bridge carrying Route 202 over the tracks.
Decking over East Milton Square, Milton, MA
Our contract required us to install 42-inch shafts on 20-foot centers along a major highway median strip. Phase one holes are to support a temporary bridge constructed to carry traffic over Boston's Southeast Expressway while new bridges are constructed during phase two. This extremely tight site required planning and coordination between Hub, the general contractor, and the state. While we were on site, Loadtest Inc. load tested a shaft with an Osterberg load cell to a total capacity of 6,147 tons.
Mobil Oil Platform Support, East Boston, MA
Mobil Oil required an earth retaining system near a granite sea wall that was moving in a slope failure. (The slope failure was caused by work done by a different subcontractor under a contract requiring driven piles.) The new system had to be installed without vibration. Hub installed 51-inch casings in a tangent pile system with a casing oscillator. The oscillator was mounted on false work driven under the previous contract. We drilled the 50-foot-deep holes through cobbles and boulders from a barge with limited access to the active pier. Due to the many interruptions, work was performed on a time and materials basis.
