In the spring of 2023, Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, launched an expansion project to construct a new bed tower addition that would increase patient care capacity across the region. The original foundation plan called for drilled piers in the southeast quadrant of the main level, but a fundamental problem emerged: conventional drilling equipment could not physically access the footings that would support the new tower. The constrained site geometry made standard-sized rigs impossible to maneuver into position without major structural modifications to the existing hospital—a non-starter on an active medical campus.
The building engineer of record redesigned the foundation to incorporate micropiles—a solution ideally matched to GeoStabilization's specialized capabilities. GSI was engaged to design and install 90-foot-deep cased micropiles strategically positioned to support the bed tower footings, working collaboratively with the engineer of record to ensure seamless integration with the broader construction plans from the outset.
GeoStabilization's compact, purpose-built limited-access machinery was the decisive factor on this project. Where conventional drilling equipment stopped at the site boundary, GSI's rigs navigated the tight confines of the hospital construction site with ease—reaching every footing location and completing installation with the precision required for a major medical facility foundation.
By using micropile-supported footers and eliminating the need for a proposed temporary construction ramp that had been considered to extend conventional equipment reach, the construction timeline was streamlined and significant cost was avoided. GSI's in-house design capabilities allowed the cased micropile solution to be engineered directly to the project's specifications. The result: a hospital expansion foundation completed on time within an active medical campus—without disrupting a single day of patient care operations.
