While preparing to relocate its company headquarters from Wayne, Pa., to East Whiteland, Pa., CubeSmart, a self-storage real estate investment trust, had to get creative to manage the propertys stormwater runoff. The 86,000-square-foot corporate center is split between corporate offices for 160 employees and rentable storage space, but the sites topography posed challenges to engineering firm Nave Newell Inc., which solved potential runoff issues by installing a stormwater-management solution from CULTEC Inc.
To manage the runoff, engineers had to overcome a 60-foot topographic grade to establish the building pad and parking area. The site is also at the top of a steep bluff. We knew that any consistent flow of runoff going over the side of the bluff would eventually cause it to erode and set other potential dangers in motion, said Alex Tweedie, design engineer for Nave Newell. In order to prevent any chance of erosion, a pipe was extended outside of the area to create a discharge site that would be able to adequately receive the runoff.
Nave Newell selected a CULTEC system to detain, or temporarily store, excess stormwater on site. The system also allows for infiltration in accordance with town and state regulations, CULTEC officials said in a press release. A grass field for reserve parking was placed on top of the stormwater system, leaving space for approximately 100 additional parking spots.
The subsurface system includes a CULTEC Recharger 330XL chamber model with a capacity of more than 400 gallons. The units small size helps save land space, and the installed system provides 94,319 cubic feet of storage, officials said.
We prefer to install an open chamber system over a pipe system because you get a much better overall footprint, said John Hogan, design engineer for Nave Newell. The Recharger 330XL is a very efficient chamber which has a lower volume in the early stages of a storm.
CULTEC manufactures septic and stormwater chambers that can be used as subsurface retention or detention systems and as replacements for ponds, concrete structures or pipe and stone installations.
CubeSmart owns or manages 518 self-storage facilities across the United States and operates the CubeSmart Network, which consists of more than 700 additional self-storage facilities.
