# Monitoring the Impact of the Large Building Investments on the Neighborhood
## 1 Introduction  
Monitoring of the impact of works on the environment is one of the most important elements enabling the safe implementation of investment projects in urban development [1, 2]. Due to the fact that works are carried out near existing buildings, including high-rise buildings, various types of observations and measurements must be carried out, on the basis of corrections in the field of works technology (e.g., reducing the amplitudes of vibrations, using a different type of driving element in the ground, changing the frequency of soil compaction, etc.) as well as suitable safety measures that can be introduced [3]. Currently, due to the increasingly scarce availability of land for development, investors are often forced to carry out construction works near other facilities [4] (with a risk of damaging adjacent buildings) and on poor grounds [5] (e.g., anthropogenic embankments with a high variability of granulometric composition and state of compaction, organic soils, etc.). Effective methods of ground improvement as well as technologies which allow the introduction of structural elements constituting an intermediate foundation or protection of scraps or excavation walls use shocks or vibrations [6]. They are usually destructive to nearby structures and can cause various types of damage, breakdowns, or even construction disasters. In addition, due to the need to optimize spatial development, it is often necessary to make deep excavations, which may also pose a threat to existing buildings [7, 8, 9, 10]. Properly implemented monitoring should comprise a comprehensive program of continuous observation, which would enable a fast reaction in the event of a threat [11, 12]. Such a program must be properly planned at the design stage and properly implemented during construction works. Sometimes, measurements and observations during the operation stage are also provided for, as harmful influences may also occur during this period [13, 14]. One of the most destructive impacts of dense urban development involves deep excavation works. Very often, the level of the trench bottom is lower than the foundation level of the neighboring objects, and the works are carried out in close contact with another building. Often, the neighboring structures are in bad technical condition, or their structures are very sensitive to additional horizontal displacements and settlements resulting from the works being carried out, and hence very strict restrictions in this respect are imposed [15; 16]. A separate problem is to ensure the stability of high scarps or walls of the excavations under high ground load. Another type of harmful effect involves a temporary lowering of the groundwater level during the excavation works [17]. Such a lowering may be from a few to a dozen or so meters and can cause additional settlements of up to several cm [18]. Especially in the case of complex ground conditions, uneven settlement may be the cause of various types of structural damage. Despite the increase in the value of mean stresses in the subsoil, which generally increases the subsoil bearing capacity, accompanying settlements under existing buildings is almost always a danger. Particularly, destructive effects occurring during the execution of construction works are shocks and the result of vibrations propagating in the soil medium [19]. Since typical building structures, located in non-seismic areas, are not resistant to such influences, we can frequently observe damage or failures effected by dynamic influences. Some of the applied ground strengthening technologies, such as, for example, dynamic consolidation, making stone columns, or driving prefabricated piers or elements of sheet piling, may cause similar damage, as in the case of seismic or paraseismic tremors (e.g., mining tremors). Harmful vibrations can also occur during the transport of materials or other types of movement of heavy vehicles or construction machinery.