Continuous Monitoring – Christchurch

KWC was engaged by our client, Moore Construction, to undertake routine deformation and settlement monitoring of the Muse Hotel in Christchurch while screw and sheet piling was undertaken on the adjoining site. The monitoring specification required continuous monitoring during sheet piling. With the assistance of Global Survey, KWC installed a monitoring total station on the roof of an adjoining building to undertake measurements around the clock to prisms fixed on the Muse Hotel, with an instant alert system if movement outside of the allowable tolerances was detected. This was a very successful solution for the client as it provided continuous real-time data that allowed the Muse Hotel building to be checked throughout construction, removing any guess work, and reducing the cost associated with full time manual monitoring.

During the course of the monitoring project, a temperature related cyclic result was observed where the Muse Hotel would be displaced by around 3mm in position and height during the day (especially during hotter days), which would then return to the zero point during the night as the temperature cooled again. To verify that this movement wasn’t caused by movement of the building on which the total station was positioned, independent measurements were taken from a second total station at ground level as a check which confirmed the cyclic results that we were seeing.