Vote for GZA in the 2025 EBC Community Choice Awards

GZA is proud to again be a nominee in the EBC Community Choice Awards! This year, we were nominated for our work on the Gloucester High School Flood Protection Project.

On January 4, 2018, a nor’easter storm event coincided with astronomical high tides and caused extensive coastal flooding with associated damage around the City of Gloucester, MA. This event overtopped the shoreline, and several facilities located at Gloucester High School including parking areas, athletic facilities, and a pad-mounted electric transformer were inundated and damaged by the coastal flooding.

The GZA project team identified future vulnerabilities, using a risk-based approach to characterize the flood hazards, and successfully obtained the needed permits and clearances. Some of the additional challenges GZA encountered and managed during the design and construction phases were the presence of several deep Horizontal Directional Drilled utility bores and frequent shallow utilities, relatively thick compressible organic soil deposits overlying very dense glaciofluvial deposits and rock, and construction access limitations. 

GZA also assisted the City in securing a $2.4M grant for coastal construction services from the state of Massachusetts, instrumental in completing the project in 2023.

The Flood Protection System was first tested in January of 2024, and performed well. However higher flood levels are anticipated at an increasing frequency as sea level and storm intensity and frequency continue to increase.

Learn more at our project page, and vote for us on the EBC website.