The Leaning Tower of Pisa – Now on Secure, Lasting Foundations CLIENT SOLUTIONS OUR EXPERTS ABOUT US CAREERS SEARCH Contact Us Find Us News Europe (English) - English Toggle high contrast mode off © Mike Mareen Fotolia HOME / CLIENT SOLUTIONS / LEANING TOWER OF PISA The Leaning Tower of Pisa – Now on Secure, Lasting Foundations RODIO AND CONSORZIO PROGETTO TORRE DI PISAE | PISA, ITALY The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the world’s most famous buildings; however, it had to be closed to visitors in 1990 due to the critical angle that the tower had reached. The following years saw the tower carefully restored and its tilt reduced with the support of CDM Smith. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was originally intended to be a free­stand­ing bell tower (campanile) for the Cathedral of Pisa. Poor soil conditions caused the base of the tower to begin to tilt just twelve years after the foundation stone was laid in 1173; the weight of the first three floors caused deformation in the clay-rich muddy soil, and the tower began to lean. A century later, a second team tried to correct the lean by building the following four floors at a slant, but building was interrupted again, not to be completed for two centuries. m tower height t white marble ° current inclination Measure­ments taken since 1911 showed the tilt of the tower to be increasing at around 1.2 mm each year. A special commission was formed – the Consorzio Progetto Torre di Pisa – with the objective of restoring the building that had been given world heritage status. The commission hired our geot­ech­ni­cal engineers for consul­ta­tion in 1986, and we examined the first soil samples from the foundation area. The aim of the restoration was not to straighten up the tower completely, but slightly correct the tilt and stabilise the tower in this position. However, the tower had to be closed to visitors in January 1990 after reaching a critical angle. It’s amazing that the Tower of Pisa should remain so fashionable, even at 800 years old. JOHN BURLAND, IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON We advised the special commission on the impact of construc­tion on the tower’s tilt and the stability of the tower during the restoration process, and supervised further construc­tion work during ground freezing. The tower’s tilt was finally reduced by 44 cm after twelve years of construc­tion, and tourists have once again been able to climb up this symbol of the city of Pisa and view it from the inside since 2001. Turm Pisa Image GI Subsoil for temporary stabi­lisa­tion The Leaning Tower of Pisa was a special project. Sven Keßler Project Manager Project Details Facilities Public Clients Related Experts Previous Jana Heymann Project Manager Ilja Prinz BIM-Manager Europe Bhaskara Gundluru Trans­porta­tion Team Leader / Project Manager Next Related Projects and Insights Previous FACILITIES INSIGHT ENVIRONMENT INSIGHT General Contractor Services – Turnkey Construc­tion Sites INSIGHT Project Development in City Centres Next CONTACT US Let's start the conver­sa­tion Thanks for visiting. We want to know you better, so send us a message. Acces­si­bil­ity.Open_Link_In­_New_Win­dow_­Text Acces­si­bil­ity.Open_Link_In­_New_Win­dow_­Text Acces­si­bil­ity.Open_Link_In­_New_Win­dow_­Text Acces­si­bil­ity.Open_Link_In­_New_Win­dow_­Text Acces­si­bil­ity.Open_Link_In­_New_Win­dow_­Text Europe (English) - English Privacy Statement Legal & Terms of Use Impressum CDM™ © 2021 CDM Smith Inc. All rights reserved.