Water, Water Everywhere!

It’s no surprise that the derrick hit water, but it was gushing out at about 50 gallons a minute! To put it in perspective, water comes out of the tap at about 5 gallons a minute. We pump it out to a silt bag where it’s filtered and released back into the water table.

Stacked bags of grout behind the trailer will be mixed up to line the walls of the wells.

Drilling the Wells

Derrick drills the wells for the installation of the ground source heat pump. A total of 8 wells will be drilled to a depth of 275 feet.

Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are basically air conditioners that use groundwater or soil to cool the condenser instead of an outside coil and fan. It still takes energy input to operate a GSHP system, but a GSHP can be as much as 300% to 400% more efficient when compared to highly efficient furnaces. Even better, because a modern heat pump can be run backwards, both heating and cooling can be provided using the same equipment, and the most efficient uses of GSHPs are in mixed climates like PA that need both heating and cooling.

The easiest GSHP installations are on lots with large areas of open land for the installation of the loops in shallow trenches (5'-6’ deep), but ground source heat pumps can also be used in tight, urban installations. For locations without large areas of open land available, such as this one, vertical bores, rather than horizontal trenches, are used for the loops.

Inside the Lines

Survey markers delineate the limit of disturbances (red) and the property mark (yellow).

Wissahickon Watershed regulations strictly indicate areas of the site in which construction and other land-disturbing activities must be contained. The low black silt fence prevents run-off. Stones at the site entrance act as tire scrubbers to prevent dirt from being tracked into the street.

Dirty Work

Topsoil stripped from the site was sent in truckloads to a temporary site where it will be stored for re-use.

The Building Site

A bulldozer clears the site before site preparation begins.

The new homes will be built on the site of an old playground in Chestnut Hill. It's within walking distance to the neighborhood’s outstanding resources, including Wissahickon Park.

Situated in the Northwest corner of Philadelphia, Chestnut Hill is an affluent commuter neighborhood that experiences marginally cooler temperatures than Center City, due to a slightly higher elevation (400-500 feet above sea level).

The Plan

Rendering by Re:Vision Architecture

Gardner/Fox was retained by the George Woodward Company to manage the planning, design, construction and development of two twin townhouses on a 15,000 square foot parcel in Chestnut Hill. Gardner/Fox will be working closely with Re:Vision Architecture and Leed consultants from MaGrann Associates to complete four units, each approximately 2,100 square feet.

The homes have been registered for Gold Rated LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and may be the first LEED Gold rated homes to be built in Philadelphia under the current certification requirements.

Construction is scheduled to be complete in November.