J. Joseph Moakley Medical Services Building

The Boston Medical Center, an urban hospital campus located in Boston’s South End, constructed the 90,000-square-foot J. Joseph Moakley Medical Services Building to centralize its cancer care services.

Providing integrated environmental and geotechnical services, GEI worked closely with the construction manager (R.F. Walsh) and maintained a tight schedule for site cleanup, excavation, and foundation construction while the final building design was still in progress.

Construction required compliance with both and the federal Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) for the cleanup of PCBs and the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) for managing urban fill. GEI worked closely with the design team and construction manager to minimize the effects of the PCB contamination and integrate its clean-up into the construction schedule.

Once construction had started, soil characterization identified concentrations of PCBs requiring cleanup in accordance with federal TSCA regulations. A comprehensive TSCA characterization program was conducted simultaneously with site preparation and foundation installation without impacting the construction schedule. GEI fast-tracked EPA Region 1 approval for a Self-Implementing Cleanup Plan for the removal of more than 2,400 cubic yards of TSCA regulated soils.

In addition, a quarter of the excavated urban fill was reused on another portion of the campus to raise the grades for a different building project. The remaining urban fill and mercury-contaminated soil was disposed off-site.

GEI assisted the contractor in obtaining a Boston Water and Sewer Commission and NPDES exclusion permit for the discharge of dewatering effluent.

Construction also required monitoring and abatement of naturally occurring odors associated with excavation of organics, preventing a significant potential nuisance to the hospital staff and patients. GEI implemented an odor mitigation plan, approved by the Boston Health Department, and monitored the site closely for odor control.