Client Name: OENJ Corporation, Elizabeth, New Jersey

In the early nineties, the Danish development firm OENJ Corporation purchased a 166-acre tract of property located in Northern New Jersey, directly across from the Newark International Airport. The property is bordered by the New­ark Bay to the East and the New Jersey Turnpike to the West. The site was a former landfill, which was de­veloped into one of the largest multi-use shopping mall on the East coast.

Edgeboro International Inc. was retained by OENJ to con­struct an underslab gas ventilation system consisting of over 30,000 feet of HDPE pipe and fittings and placement of over 40,000 tons of stone at final fine grade.

EII’s construction commenced following the erection of the steel structure for the Jersey Gardens Mall. Utilizing three separate union crews, EII kept a tight construction schedule while installing the network of horizon­tal methane collection systems, which were placed in the sub base of the floor. Once installed, EII was required to leave the sub base within one half of an inch of final grade to allow the concrete contractor to pour behind the methane collections system.

The methane collection system was designed as an active system to circulate and extract air from under the concrete floor of the mall, eliminating the possibility of methane gas migrating into the building from the landfill.

Note: It was estimated that the site, during the construction and final use stages as a multi-use shopping mall, would create 5,000 full time jobs for the Elizabeth Urban Enterprise zone.