Building Engineering Marvels with One of the Best in the Industry, One Foundation at a Time!

Building engineering marvels with one of the best in the industry, one foundation at a time!

As pioneers of smart geotechnical solutions like diaphragm wall construction, Heritage Infraspace Private Limited (HIPL) holds a legacy of providing a strong and dependable foundation for modern superstructures of India along with the top construction companies in India, and Shilp Group is a leading name among them.

With over 40+ residential and commercial projects, the Shilp group has trusted HIPL with the deep basement projects at signature locations in Ahmedabad.

Learn all about the projects, the challenges faced by HIPL and the solutions developed to positively counter them.

The Client: Shilp Group, builders of excellence.

A name synonymous with quality and integrity, Shilp group has been the master of modern infrastructure. Being among the top construction companies in Ahmedabad, it is known for innovating the real estate industry with its residential and commercial properties that run over 75 lakhs sq. ft.

With a heritage of 18 years, the Shilp group has been the obvious choice in real estate when it comes to creating comfortable, stylish and better living spaces on the foundation of trust, safety, innovation and premium quality.

These core values resonate with HIPL deeply and led to the successful completion of the multi-basement diaphragm wall construction for a few signature Shilp projects.

The Projects: Symbols of trust

From diaphragm walls in dams to the ones for deep basement construction, HIPL has successfully completed multiple projects that hold superstructures of the contemporary world. And with the Shilp group, HIPL has worked on the following projects:

Residential project

1. Shilp Serene

Located in the heart of S.P. ring road, Shilp Serene is a two-basement urban infrastructure with a unique locational advantage. HIPL started the project in the year 2022 and laid down a diaphragm wall (also called D-wall) with anchoring that runs around 13m deep and 220 m in width. As the top diaphragm wall construction company in India, it completed the project within a tenure of 2 months.

Commercial projects

1. Shilp Epitome

This superstructure stands as the epitome of excellence that every construction company in India aims for. With a 14m deep and 200m wide diaphragm wall and anchoring, this commercial property supports a 3-level basement built in around 2.5 months. This project was taken up by HIPL in the year 2018-19.

2. Shivalik Shilp 2

This megastructure has a 3-level basement constructed in the year 2017. HIPL laid down a diaphragm wall along with anchoring within 2.5 months. The diaphragm wall runs 18m deep and 250m wide supporting this 13-floored business hub.

3. Shilp Business Gateway

The Shilp Business Gateway project was taken over by HIPL, the top D-wall construction company in India. It built a 3-level basement with a 20m deep and 229m wide diaphragm wall in 2021 within 1.5 months.

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Everything Starts With the Soil in Diaphragm Wall Construction

Understanding soil is a crucial part of building a diaphragm wall for deep basements. Civil engineers from some of the best construction companies in India will agree that for a project to proceed, it is vital to ensure that the soil on the construction site can take the load, withstand the pressure with time and not degrade the construction material used in the structure.

As one of the top civil construction companies in India, we have set standards in constructing diaphragm walls in almost all types of soil across the country and worldwide. Read on to know what our civil engineers look for in the ground they work with and the actions they take to ensure a strong foundation is laid for the diaphragm walls to last for the longest time.

Types of soil

A large country like India has different types of soil in different regions as per its climatic conditions and its exposure to various environmental elements like heat, snow, salinity, etc. Being among the leading construction companies in India and having worked all over the country, our engineers have come to define the types of soil below and how they affect deep basement construction:

– Sandy: In the north-western belt of the country, in states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana, the top soil strata have more sand in them and are drier because of the excessive exposure to heat. While excavating through them is easier, what’s challenging is ensuring the soil doesn’t collapse.

– Marshy: The coastal belt of India that stretches down south from Maharashtra to Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, has a much marshier soil thanks to the high water table in the ground, proximity to the sea and the humid climate the regions have. The construction of the diaphragm wall in such soil conditions also involves shoring activities.

– Sand with Silt: The central parts of the country, like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and some parts of Gujarat have sandy soil, mixed with silt deposits. These occur from the various rivers flowing through these regions. Ahmedabad is one such city.

– Rocky/Gravel: The central and far northern regions of the country with mountain peaks have rocky strata with lots of gravel in their soil. Working in such conditions is a challenge, as engineers have to involve trench cutters to penetrate the layers to excavate further.

Challenges faced by the best construction companies in India

It is never a walk in the park when it comes to constructing a diaphragm wall for deep basements in a country like India, where the soil type changes with every state, cities are densely populated and the soil quality resultantly going down.

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Shaligram Group X HIPL – A Modern Residential Structure in Ahmedabad

Heritage Infraspace Pvt Limited (HIPL) is known in the infrastructure industry as the best diaphragm wall construction service provider for deep basements in India. As pioneers of the deep basement diaphragm walls, HIPL has worked on several residential and commercial projects collaborating with prominent names from the real estate industry. One such residential complex project is the Super Shaligram under Shaligram Group in Gurgaon.

Here’s a deep-dive into the observations made, challenges faced, and solutions provided during the construction phase of this project.

The client – Shaligram Group

Shaligram Group is an Ahmedabad-based construction company specialising in residential and commercial property construction. Shaligram Group joined hands with Heritage Infraspace Private Limited for this particular project since they have the experience of building many modern high rise residential projects, while HIPL is the pioneer in providing the best diaphragm wall construction service in the country.

Projects awarded to HIPL for Super Shaligram

The Shaligram group wanted only the top diaphragm wall construction contractors in India to work on this project, as it is considered to be one of the marquee projects in their portfolio. This project began in August 2022 and HIPL was assigned to build an 18.5 metres deep diaphragm wall for the 3- basement project named Super Shaligram. HIPL also did 2 levels of anchoring alongside the diaphragm wall construction.

(Note: This is an ongoing project, HIPL plans to complete it by mid-November 2022)

Challenges in this project

This project was located in the Gota area of Ahmedabad, which has a lot of trees and vegetation in and around the main streets and lanes.

During the excavation for the deep basement diaphragm wall, a few previously built structures in and around the plot had to be broken down.

The plot of land chosen for construction was earlier used as a recreational ground where a lot of outdoor events were held. As these events usually set up temporary tents and stages, the top strata of the soil had become very soft.

Another major challenge was that this project was green lit when the monsoon season was in full swing. This is a problem that causes concerns for all diaphragm wall construction contractors in India.

As the excavation for panelling began, a water bore pipeline was discovered inside. And it was informed that this line cannot be removed or moved away.

There was another ongoing project happening at the next plot and additional care had to be taken so as to ensure no damage to their part of the plot occurs due to the excavation.

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Importance of Diaphragm Walls in Metros – A Case Study

India’s first metro rail started back in 1984 in Kolkata (then Calcutta), West Bengal . Ever since, India has seen a rapid expansion of metro rail in various cities, with Delhi leading, and other cities catching up like Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Kanpur, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai and now even Agra.

India being a country with densely populated cities, building metro railway lines and stations is nothing short of a challenge. Heritage Infraspace Pvt Limited has assisted and provided metro diaphragm wall construction services to many metro contractors in India. Here, we break down the importance of diaphragm walls in the construction of metro railways, as an interesting case study.

Types of stations built by metro contractors in India

There are majorly two types of metro stations: elevated and underground stations.

An elevated metro railway station or elevated train station is a railway platform alongside the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure, usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks by metro contractors in India.

An underground metro railway station is where the platform is built multiple levels beneath the ground as deep basements. The metro rail tracks run parallel to these stations, with a bustling city above it.

Elevated railways are normally found in urban areas where there would otherwise be multiple level crossings. Usually, the tracks of elevated railways that run on steel viaducts can be seen from street level.

Underground metro stations are generally proposed in older, dense parts of the cities where roads are narrow and sharp turns do not allow elevated rail alignment without major demolitions.

Importance of diaphragm walls for underground metro stations

Diaphragm walls are sturdy underground structures that can act as a permanent structural wall. Diaphragm walls can be installed to deeper depths, which helps in building multi-basement stations.

Compared to construction of a station on an elevated metro corridor, underground metro diaphragm wall construction services require less temporary propping. The top-down construction method can be applied in building an underground metro railway station.

The diaphragm wall is a rigid structure, hence the ground movement induced by basement excavation for underground metro is lesser compared to usage of flexible retaining walls. Diaphragm walls act as a strong guide wall for the launching shaft for metro stations.

Challenges faced by HIPL Ground Team

A major challenge HIPL faces as a commercial construction company in India working on various underground metro projects is accurately/precisely identifying the quality of the soil. With urbanisation, soil quality cannot be determined with a single inspection, and as the excavation takes place, the teams come across various forms of soil, which affects the metro diaphragm wall construction to a great extent.

The other challenges are as below:

Metro construction area sees a lot of activity and hence securing an entire stretch for the excavation work and diverting the traffic is a challenge.

Transportation of various construction materials, utilities, machinery, etc. is a big challenge, as urban areas have constant and heavy flow of vehicular and foot traffic in congested spaces.

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Safety on Site: Diaphragm Wall Construction by Heritage Infraspace

Apart from being the pioneers of diaphragm wall construction for deep basements, what makes Heritage Infraspace Pvt Ltd (HIPL) rank as the one of the top construction company in India is their approach to safety on site. Safety on construction sites protects the workers and keeps the public safe.

The construction sites commissioned to HIPL are typically congested locations in bustling cities with high pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Inadequate safety procedures could lead to mishaps involving construction employees, heavy equipment and onlookers, placing them in severe and sometimes life-threatening danger.

Here are some of the steps HIPL follows, as a responsible diaphragm wall construction company in Ahmedabad, India, to ensure the safety of workers and general people around the site, right from implementing a health, safety and environment plan to an internal checklist of to-dos by the safety team of HIPL.

General Workers’ Safety

Every member on the ground, including the labourers and engineers, is provided with reflective safety jackets, standard safety helmets and safety shoes with steel toes.

Those working in reinforcement get hand gloves, and shoulder pads as they carry heavy and long rods of steel bars and welded wire fabrics.

Welders are provided with a proper faceguard, gloves and safety aprons, to protect them from the sparks flying off the metal during the process.

Teams working with concrete in Diaphragm wall construction are also provided with special gum boots and hand gloves.

Site Safety Protocols

At every HIPL construction project site, a safety officer assists the project manager in implementing safety guidelines and reviewing risk assessment. Together they conduct multiple levels of safety inspections at site on a continuous basis, making on-the-spot corrections.

Before the beginning of any project operations, the safety officer and the project manager conduct a safety meeting with all staff members. This session educates everyone involved in the project about the various steps to be taken to avert any untoward incident that might put anyone in danger or cause loss of property.

Hard Barrication is done prior to construction commencement. Clear and visible signages like Deep Excavation, Non PPE Zone, Active Drilling in Process, Electrical DG Set Zone, Cage Making in Progress etc are placed to ensure site identification.

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Odhav Pump House: Structural concrete diaphragm wall construction for water tank

Heritage Infraspace Private Limited (HIPL) works with various national and local government bodies and construction companies in building crucial water supply infrastructure in Gujarat and all over the country. In 2018, HIPL got the opportunity to work on the structural concrete diaphragm wall construction for the Odhav Pump House.

Here’s a look into the challenges faced by HIPL, solutions provided by the Heritage Infraspace diaphragm wall team and the crucial observations made during the project.

The client : Ankita Constructions and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

Ankita Constructions is an Ahmedabad-based construction company specializing in waste water and sewerage treatment plants for residential and commercial properties.

Amdavad (Ahmedabad) Municipal Corporation is the local government body that is responsible for the infrastructure and administration of the city of Ahmedabad.

Ankita Construction joined hands with Heritage Infraspace Private Limited for this particular project since they have the experience of working on many water treatment, storage and supply plants, while HIPL is the pioneer in structural concrete diaphragm wall construction.

The Odhav Pump House in Ahmedabad can collect, store and treat storm water underground and supply it to the adjoining areas of the city.

Projects awarded to HIPL for the Odhav Pump House

The project of building a storm water pump house in Odhav, east Ahmedabad was awarded to Ankita Constructions by the Amdavad Municipal Corporation

The project given to HIPL was of concrete diaphragm wall construction for the underground water storage tank.

Since HIPL has the experience and expertise of working on ground engineering for underground construction projects, we were brought into work on the initial stages of building the water pump.

What makes this project very unique, is the fact that no anchors were used during the diaphragm wall construction, which showcases HIPL’s engineering expertise in water tight projects like these.

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Anchoring: A Key Aspect Diaphragm Wall Construction

Diaphragm wall construction is very crucial for modern super structures like residential and commercial complexes with basements. These reinforced concrete walls provide the much required underground support and stability to the structure. And what ensures that these diaphragm walls are sturdy enough to keep these structures intact is Anchoring. All diaphragm wall construction companies will unanimously agree that Anchoring is one of the most important aspects of diaphragm wall construction. Here’s why…

What exactly is Anchoring a diaphragm wall?

In diaphragm wall construction, ground anchor bolts are used in order to link the structural and non-structural elements of the D-wall to the concrete. The process of casting these anchors into the diaphragm wall is known as Anchoring. The Anchoring activity begins 7 days after the diaphragm wall panels are cast.

How does Anchoring help in the diaphragm wall construction?

Anchoring assists in transferring the tension and shear forces between these structural elements and lateral support to the diaphragm wall to sustain force from the top. It involves anchor bolts, steel plates, sleeves and stiffeners to form the anchor on the diaphragm wall.

If anchoring is not done by diaphragm wall construction companies, then they have to increase the depth of the wall into the ground to almost double the size required. For instance, if the requirement is to construct a basement of 10 ft., the diaphragm wall must go deeper into the ground by 10 ft. more, in order to ensure it doesn’t collapse. Constructing a diaphragm wall without anchoring increases the cost of labor, the amount of concrete and steel used in the process, thus adding to the cost of the project.

What are the anchors used in Anchoring?

The tool used in the process of anchoring is called a Grouted Ground Anchor. There are three important elements you’ll see in an anchor, and they are Steel Tendons, Spacers and End Cone. Top civil engineering companies in India like Heritage Infraspace Pvt Ltd used steel tendon grouted ground anchors manufactured by Tata or Usha Martin.

This is the breakdown of an Anchor that goes into the diaphragm wall

Now, these steel tendons are generally 12.7 MM wide and come in 7 ply form (7 different wires coming together to form one single tendon). The spacers, just like its name, create spaces between these wires to ensure that they do not touch each other and that the cement flowing into the sleeve of the anchor is regulated.

The End Cone, is a conical shaped protector attached on the interior end of the anchor, which protects the wires from touching the soil base.

The Anchoring process

Anchoring is done post casting of the diaphragm wall. There are multiple levels of anchoring, with one anchor level in every basement. When the diaphragm wall cages are made, there are slots left open in equal distance on them. They are called anchoring sleeves. The distance maintained between them is ideally 5 meters. But the depth can be increased, given the quality of the soil the diaphragm wall construction companies are dealing with.

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HIPL X Central Vista: Revamping India’s Administrative Capital for the Future

The Client – Government of India, Larsen & Toubro

The Central Vista, India’s central administrative area located near Raisina Hill, New Delhi. The area was originally designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker during British colonial rule and was retained by the Government of India after independence.

Scheduled between 2020 and 2024, the Central Vista Redevelopment project aims to revamp a 3 km (1.9 mi) long Rajpath between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate, convert North and South Blocks to publicly accessible museums by creating a new common Central Secretariat to house all ministries, a new Parliament building near the present one with increased seating capacity for future expansion, new residence and office for the Vice-President and the Prime Minister near the North Block and South Block and convert some of the older structures into museums.

A set of ten doughnut-shaped buildings on four plots as Secretariat will be built on either side of Rajpath. The height of all the buildings will be less than 42 meters (height of India Gate) and they will have 7 floors. Exteriors of all buildings will be similar to surrounding Lutyens buildings and they will be connected to each other and to the Delhi Metro network by electric people-movers in underground ways and overground buses.

In 2021, infrastructure company Larsen & Toubro Limited was awarded the contract for the construction as well as maintenance of the first three buildings of the Common Central Secretariat under the Central Vista Redevelopment project by the Central Public Works Department.

Projects awarded to HIPL

Under L&T, HIPL was awarded the projects for diaphragm wall construction and Soil Anchoring for the Central Secretariat building in the Parliament Complex.

The concrete diaphragm walls are being built in a periphery of 1500 running mts. The diaphragm wall ranges between 600 to 800 mm, and they are being constructed 20 mts and above.

The soil anchoring was done with the standard distance of 2.5 meters between each struts and anchors.

Challenges faced

The safety standards for the entire project is very high and its maintenance requires meticulous planning from every department.

One of the initial challenges was to ensure the smooth process of the security verification of every member involved in the project.

Secondly, the team had to be very cautious with all forms of excavations and drilling activities, as a lot of the surrounding structures have a historical significance and cannot afford even minimal damage.

In the midst of the Heritage Infraspace diaphragm wall construction activity, the team of engineers discovered water flushing outside, during the anchoring activity. This was plugged using our water stoppers.

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HIPL x Hines: Building Futuristic Superstructures in Gurgaon

Heritage Infraspace Pvt Limited (HIPL) is known as the pioneers of diaphragm wall construction for deep basements in India. As one of the top construction companies in India, HIPL has worked on several residential and commercial projects collaborating with prominent names from the real estate industry. One such commercial complex project is the Adarshini real estate pvt ltd under Hines in Gurgaon.

Here’s a deep-dive into the observations made, challenges faced, and solutions provided during the construction phase of this project.

Adarshini & Hines – The client

Aadarshini Real Estate Developers Private Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of DLF Home Developers Limited, a part of the DLF (Delhi Land and Finance) Limited, one of the largest commercial and residential real estate construction companies in India.

Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment, development and management firm, with a presence in 285 cities in 28 countries and $90.3 billion of investment assets under management and more than 114.2 million square feet of assets for which Hines provides third-party property-level services.

Adarshini and Hines combined forces together to build an exceptional and modern commercial space in Gurgaon near the prominent Income Tax complex, to cater to the changing business landscape of India and its growing demand of workspaces that fulfil the requirements of the globally connected enterprises working round the clock.

Projects awarded to HIPL for this project

HIPL was first awarded with a project to build diaphragm walls, conduct anchoring for soil and the requisite excavation activities for the North Parcel in 2020. It took HIPL close to 1 year to complete this project.

Upon completion of the North Parcel, HIPL was awarded a similar project at South Parcel, commissioning them with the construction of diaphragm walls, soil anchoring and excavation.

The excavation activities for diaphragm wall projects are usually commissioned to a third party by the client, but in this case, HIPL was assigned with the excavation activities too, given that we had all the required equipment and manpower to execute it.

This is one of the biggest commercial projects HIPL has worked on. What makes this project unique, is that HIPL engineers used retractable anchors, something which was innovative and executed for the first time on a project of this scale and size.

Challenges in this project

One of the biggest technical challenges faced in this project was the size of the perimeter on which the diaphragm wall was to be built. Apart from that, ramping the soil was also challenging in terms of execution, given the depth of the project.

Supervision in every stage, in every aspect was extremely crucial. The lead engineers were present at the location, guiding, overseeing and ensuring perfection in execution at all the times.

This, because the first leg of the project was being conducted during the monsoons and precautions for the safety of the workers and neighbouring structures were important. One of the most important buildings next to the project site was the Income Tax complex.

Constant rains were a cause of worry. But our engineers and team of workers did everything required as a part of the monsoon precautions on the sides of the perimeter, to ensure all the water drains away and no water gets percolated behind the constructed diaphragm wall.

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Delhi Metro X HIPL: Changing the Way People Commute, With Metro Construction in India

Heritage Infraspace Pvt Limited (HIPL), as one of the best construction companies in India, has worked on many metro rail projects all over India, and one of its most prestigious projects has been the Delhi Metro projects. HIPL has had the opportunity to provide its services in the construction of the crucial metro station of Krishna Park Extension for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Here’s a look into the observations made, challenges faced, and solutions provided for the metro construction in India.

HCC-VCCL Joint Venture for DMRC Project – The client

• Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) is a mass rapid transit company run equally by the central government and the state government of Delhi. All the construction and operations of the Delhi Metro is managed by the Delhi Government.
• The Delhi Metro is considered to be the largest and busiest metro rail system in the country. It is the second oldest after Kolkata Metro construction in India.
• This project was a part of the joint venture of the HCC (Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd) and VCCL (Vensar Constructions Company Ltd), which was awarded to them in 2020.
• HCC has been one of the major contractors for metro rail construction in India, and were the ones who also built the Kolkata Metro back in 1995

Projects awarded to HIPL for the Delhi’s Metro construction in India

• HIPL was contracted to work on Krishna Park Extension, an important metro station
• HIPL provided their services in Diaphragm Wall Construction, a segment we are best-known for and have pioneered in India
• HIPL worked in tandem with other prominent contractors and the state and central governments, who were leading and monitoring the projects’ progress.
• The Krishna Nagar Extension was awarded to HIPL in 2020 as a part of the Metro Phase-4, where we worked under the HCC-VCCL JV.

Challenges in this project

• Krishna Park is located in an area that sees a lot of activity. Which meant securing an entire stretch for the excavation work and diverting the traffic on to a different path.
• Transporting various construction material, utilities, machinery, etc was a task on hand, given that both the location saw constant and heavy flow of vehicular and foot traffic in congested spaces.
• Keeping up with the strict pollution control standards for construction in public spaces by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Pollution Control Board (PCB). This was important since Delhi is notorious for its poor quality of air during winters.
• One of the biggest challenges with construction for the metro station is cutting down trees, which is highly frowned upon by the NGT and PCB.
• Another huge challenge was to deal with the regular lockdowns imposed every time there was a spike in the Covid-19 spread during the work on Krishna Nagar Extension.
• There was a tight deadline from the government, as both the areas were active locations and holding up daily activities for long construction projects would mean inconveniencing the residents.

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How We Became the Leaders in Diaphragm Wall Construction in India

Building strong foundations for a glorious future

Heritage Infraspace Pvt Ltd (HIPL) is an Ahmedabad-based award-winning, ISO 9001: 2015 accredited construction company in India with over a decade’s experience in diaphragm wall construction. We are pioneers of ground engineering solutions for commercial and residential construction projects In India, such as diaphragm wall in basement construction, as well as, deep foundation projects. HIPL also provides critical geotechnical solutions for leading metro construction companies in India, dam projects and subway systems.

HIPL was founded in March 2011, by Gagan Goswami, a civil engineer with a rich and extensive experience of over 16 years, working across construction projects in India and the Middle East, for companies such as ITD Cementation Ltd and Reliance Industries. He decided to start his own engineering construction company in India, without any financial backing, built entirely from the ground up.

What motivated Gagan to start HIPL was his observation that open excavation projects were replete with accidents, causing financial loss, but more importantly a loss of precious human life. Through his research and experience abroad he realised that both the quality of work and safety of workers was taken a lot more seriously abroad. So he decided to introduce some of this innovation in underground construction to India. Introducing diaphragm wall construction, a European method of constructing a slurry wall, while building basements for commercial and residential projects. Apart from safety, this also improved the timeline of constructing major projects. As the company grew, HIPL added other services such as piling, anchoring, waterproofing, RMC and more.

In all this, engineering excellence and continuous innovation remain the core values of the company. HIPL operates across 11 Indian states and more than 25 cities. We have completed over 300 projects, built 42 kilometres of diaphragm walls, and installed over 50,000 anchors, with a devoted team of over 450 of our Heritage family members.

Meet Gagan Goswami, our founder

Mr. Gagan Goswami comes from a family of teachers in the small village of Gandhisagar in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur region. He began his career as a training engineer, working on numerous projects around India. For four years, he worked as an independent consultant on building projects in Oman, Muscat, and Dubai, gaining international experience.

Upon his return to India, he formed HIPL with just 8 team members, and pioneered the use of diaphragm walls for deep basement construction as an important element of underground construction. Under his leadership, HIPL’s focus on worker’s safety, as well as, the use of new technology and machinery in all our projects has made us the leaders in this segment, which we have helped establish in India.

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