Led by a California Geotechnical Engineer with 38 years in practice
Deron van Hoff, PE, GE, leads PICO’s engineering, with experience on large infrastructure projects including highway and transit, tunnels, dams and levees, water and wastewater infrastructure, and buildings in dense urban environments.
Deron is a California-licensed Civil Engineer and Geotechnical Engineer. He has designed instrumentation and monitoring programs for design-bid-build, design-build, and CM/GC contracts, so he has worked on both the owner’s and the contractor’s side of the table.
He has used monitoring results to develop corrective action plans for ground settlement, landslide movement, and other geohazards, and has advised owners, contractors, and attorneys evaluating adjacent-property claims of vibration and settlement damage. Depending on the phases a project engages PICO for, he can prepare and stamp the instrumentation design, be on site while the contractor installs instrumentation, set and review the thresholds with the design engineer, or interpret the data.
Registrations
- Civil Engineer, California
- C 56230
- Geotechnical Engineer, California
- GE 2575
- Civil Engineer, Washington
- 23027874
Education
- M.S., Geotechnical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1993
- B.S., Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1988
Professional memberships
- American Society of Civil Engineers
- Past President, ASCE Golden Gate Branch
Selected experience
Professional experience includes the programs below, each performed with a prior employer and attributed to his role on it.
WSDOT SR 520 Portage Bay Bridge, Seattle, WA
Transportation
Geotechnical Group Manager on D/B team
A $1.375 billion design/build project to replace the Portage Bay Bridge, spanning two historic landslides and a soft soil area with peat and liquefiable soils.
Deron oversaw development of the Geotechnical Instrumentation and Monitoring Program to reduce geotechnical risk during construction, with up to ten automated total stations, inclinometers, triaxial tiltmeters, vibrating wire piezometers, crack gauges, and vibration and noise monitors on a cloud-based platform updated hourly. He reviewed and approved the instrumentation plans and weekly monitoring reports, and was part of the Management Activity Team that responded to alerts and developed the contractor’s corrective action plans when the need arose.
EBMUD Orinda Water Treatment Plant, Orinda, CA
Water
Lead Tunnel Inspector, owner’s quality assurance
A $341 million upgrade to EBMUD’s largest water treatment plant, with deep excavation shoring 65 feet below ground surface and five tunnel drives beneath assets that remained operational during construction.
Deron developed risk registers for the tunneling operations, reviewed contractor submittals for conformance with the contract requirements, and provided continuous inspection during tunneling. He reviewed the daily monitoring reports from the contractor’s automated total stations, piezometers, and extensometers, and responded to alerts to evaluate whether compensation grouting or dewatering modifications were required to reduce geotechnical risk.
SFPUC SE Plant Headworks Facility, San Francisco, CA
Wastewater
Project Manager and Lead Geotechnical Engineer
Design of a new $717 million headworks facility at the Southeast Plant in the Bayview, on drilled shaft foundations with excavation support and uplift pressures on below-grade structures.
Deron developed the project specifications for the geotechnical elements and the monitoring program during construction, including contract requirements to install settlement monitoring points and inclinometers and to perform load testing on the foundation elements.
San Francisco Public Safety Building, San Francisco, CA
Buildings
Project Manager and Lead Geotechnical Engineer
The $243 million Public Safety Building on bay mud and liquefiable soils, among San Francisco Public Works’ first contracts delivered by CM/GC.
Deron developed and implemented the construction monitoring program, including settlement monitoring points, vibration monitoring, open standpipe piezometers, inclinometers, and a test pile program, with weekly monitoring reports to SFPW and other project stakeholders. The vibration data during pile driving was instrumental in dismissing pile driving vibrations as a potential cause of distress to adjacent structures.
Little Balboa Island Sewage Pump Station, Newport Beach, CA
Wastewater
Project Manager
A new pump station serving Balboa Island, shored and excavated approximately 30 feet below the street in close proximity to adjacent homes.
Deron developed specifications with tight controls on shoring deflections and drawdown of groundwater levels, given the loose, compressible, and potentially liquefiable sands on the island, and provided geotechnical services during excavation and construction. The instrumentation included surface settlement points, groundwater observation wells, and tiltmeters on foundations of adjacent residences.
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Building 25, San Francisco, CA
Buildings
Project Manager
A new base-isolated, 284-bed hospital with seven stories above grade and two basement levels, delivered by San Francisco Public Works through integrated project delivery.
Deron was responsible for project management, the exploration and laboratory testing program, and construction observation during underpinning of adjacent buildings, shoring and tiedown installation and testing, and monitoring of geotechnical instrumentation during construction.
Buchanan Street Eastshore Highway Connection, Albany, CA
Transportation
Project Manager
A bridge connection raising Eastshore Frontage Road on up to 23 feet of fill behind a 280-foot-long mechanically stabilized earth wall, where settlement of the underlying alluvium was a main consideration for design.
Deron evaluated the data from fluid-level settlement platforms the contractor installed, comparing the rate and magnitude of settlement to the expected consolidation settlement before releasing the contractor to begin abutment construction.
Statement of Qualifications
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