Bund 22 is an iconic building along the Bund. The building was built in 1906 for Swire Pacific and even up to this day a popular dining and shopping destination. In 1930 Swire pacific added two warehouses to the west of the building. In 1956, the Fenghua Ballpoint Pen Factory and other units entered the former office building, and in 1986 renovated and rebuilt the building. At that time, the original office building of Swire Pacific and the warehouse on the west-side were integrated. Since then property rights have changed several times. By the beginning of the 21st century, the building was in a state of disrepair. In 2009, in coordination with the Huangpu District Cultural Bureau, Hong Kong Shengbang Company leased the building for 15 years. The company then paid for repairs to the building. The restoration project was completed at the end of 2012, restoring the historic features of the building. In 2004, the building was listed as an immovable cultural relic in Huangpu District and the fourth batch of Outstanding historical buildings in Shanghai.

In late 2019, the north building of No. 22 of the Bund started to show peeling and cracking of its walls. The north building had experienced structural damage, with the inspector listing No. 22 North Building of The Bund as a "dSU-level dangerous building", the highest warning level of the building code. The east building, which is categorized as a heritage building, also showed uneven settlement and tilt problems that caused cracking in the facade. In December last year, the Shanghai Housing safety Supervision Institute reviewed the safety report and allocated emergency rescue funds for this historical building. The reinforcement of the East building has been completed already. With the construction of metro line 14 that will pass along the building due to start within a short time, the decision was made to demolish and rebuild the unhistorical west wing building.

The photos and videos show the foundation construction work on the new site. As the Tunnel Boring Machine is getting ready to move in for the construction of metro line 14, construction needed to be done either before the tunnel boring started, or after it was concluded. In both scenario’s this called for steel foundations installed with RF technology. In the first scenario because it the quickest way to get the foundation done, and in the latter case because resonance free piling is proven not to impact the integrity of nearby metro tunnels.

This is one of the first times that steel foundations were chosen for a real estate development. To date this foundation type has been popular mostly for Shanghai’s elevated highway projects. Using steel foundations instead of bored piles means that no trucks transporting excavated soil, bentonite and concrete will have to drive down Shanghai’s Bund riverfront. The integrity of the pile foundation is also unquestioned, the three 18m sections of pile welded together are of guaranteed quality. In total 91 foundations piles will be driven. The client chose 700mm diameter 54m long steel casings for the foundation. The job is carried out by 1 set of ICE 70RF resonance free hammer, one crawler crane, a mobile crane to help with lifting, and one excavator for odd jobs. The job was commissioned by Shanghai Industrial Investment (Group) Co. LTD and carried out by Shanghai Construction Group No.2, the foundation work was sub-contracted by Shanghai Greenland Group.

The ICE 70RF hammer is powered by a 1130kW power pack, ensuring the hammer operates at full spec. The client has added a Pile Lifting Device to optimize the pile handling process, allowing for high daily production rates.

ICE clients have built up an impressive reference base to prove the suitability of resonance free pile driving in urban construction sites, both in Shanghai as well as in most other provinces in China. If you would like to learn more about this technology, we welcome your call, our technical team is sitting ready to advise you on choosing a fitting construction method for your urban foundation project and can support you with pile driving predictions.