Galataport Project: Istanbul, Turkey

The Galataport Project is a city centre initiative with a master plan coherent with the neighbourhood texture of the historical Karaköy region of İstanbul.

With the introduction of the new port, the Karaköy coastline, which has been closed to public access for the last 200 years, will be transformed into a promenade open to public, connecting the city with the sea.

The project includes the construction of a new terminal for cruise ships, the development of a luxury hotel and the reconfiguration of public spaces in the area. The project has also led to the reconstruction of Istanbul Modern, Turkey’s first museum of modern art, located in the project area.

As the only cruise port in Istanbul, a city of more than 15 million people and a visitor hot-spot, Galataport has the potential for high revenues through tourism.

WJ started preparations for this project during 2016, creating a hydrogeological conceptual and numerical model which included a dewatering design. Site operations started a year later and carried on until the last quarter of 2020.

The project covered a wide geographic area with a variety of ground geology. This called for a range of dewatering techniques. In total, 57 deepwells, 14 piezometers and 12 sump pumps were installed and operated, 1600m of 4” to 6” pipeline was installed, with 2 V notch tanks for discharge.

From the first drop in February 2017 to project completion in August 2020, an estimated 5 million cubic meters of groundwater was discharged during the project timeline.

You can find out more about Galataport on their website.