Farm Fresh Food Hub

Aggregate piers provide significant cost savings for Rhode Island food hub

Subsurface recently installed 800 vibro stone columns (aggregate piers) for the 60,000 square foot Farm Fresh food Hub in Providence, Rhode Island. This food hub will provide aggregation and distribution of locally grown food, production facilities, opportunities for nutrition education and job training and retail markets for both the consumer and wholesaler.

The stone columns extended 15 feet below the slab level through the existing loose to dense fill materials and provided a significant cost saving to the alternative of over-excavation and replacement of the on-site urban fills. This food hub will be supported by spread footings and a slab on grade bearing on the the existing fill materials, which have been densified, and the highly densified stone columns. Some of the site challenges included the large buried marble blocks left over from the construction of the Rhode Island State House between 1895 to 1904. About 15 million white Georgia marble bricks were cut at this site and moved over to the State House.