Toronto CIBC SQUARE | 241.39m | 50s | Hines | WilkinsonEyre

  • Thread starter Suicidal Gingerbread Man
  • Start date
New arrivals, another construction office, lots of new GFL lime green diggers, loaders and picker uppers, more work on the north end berm. Every day there is one person in a hi-vis jacket on track side watching every move the diggers make. That job would bore me to tears

IMG_0446.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0446.jpg
    IMG_0446.jpg
    2.3 MB · Views: 957
Looks like they are building the shoring platform for the piling rig
 
Looks like they are building the shoring platform for the piling rig

Shouldn't that be'...building a piling platform for the shoring rigs'?

While pile drivers do exist, the only instance I am aware of regarding their use in the City has been for the recent Go Transit line grade separation in the Junction, which generated all kinds of problems. All the construction sites in downtown Toronto over the past decades have used shoring rigs for their site excavation retaining walls....
 
I have definitely heard pile drivers around Toronto before, but for the life of me can't remember where. They are certianly extremely loud.

Edit: ah yes, the new ryerson building on church used them. Most developments do indeed to shoring with concrete sheet walls. But some do pile driving with the wood supporting the soils between the piles.
 
I have definitely heard pile drivers around Toronto before, but for the life of me can't remember where. They are certianly extremely loud.

Edit: ah yes, the new ryerson building on church used them. Most developments do indeed to shoring with concrete sheet walls. But some do pile driving with the wood supporting the soils between the piles.

Holes are usually drilled for soldier piles walls too. Pile driving isn't nearly as accurate for building a retaining wall. They do bend when hammered
 
Last edited:
I have definitely heard pile drivers around Toronto before, but for the life of me can't remember where. They are certianly extremely loud.

Edit: ah yes, the new ryerson building on church used them. Most developments do indeed to shoring with concrete sheet walls. But some do pile driving with the wood supporting the soils between the piles.

Retaining walls can be both concrete sheet walls, or wood sections inserted between the 'I' beam piles. And in some cases, I have seen both concrete sheet walls and wood retaining walls used in the same excavation - if I recall correctly, I think the King Blue site may have used both types of retaining wall. HOWEVER - the manner in which the I beams were placed was the same - the holes were excavated using a SHORING machine, the I beams were inserted in the hole by the crane cable attachment at the top of the shoring machine, and then as the excavation proceeded, the wood timber sections were inserted. The 'I' beam piles are either supported in place by tie-backs, or in the cases were an adjoining property owner would not accept a tieback agreement and reasonable fee, the pile would be supported by steel beams within the excavation.

The operational consequences, disruptions, risks and associated potential damage costs from pile driver vibrations are such that, in the 38 years we have lived in Toronto (since moving here from Montreal in 1979), I have yet to see an actual pile driving based retaining wall being created in downtown Toronto.
 
I have definitely heard pile drivers around Toronto before, but for the life of me can't remember where. They are certianly extremely loud.

Edit: ah yes, the new ryerson building on church used them. Most developments do indeed to shoring with concrete sheet walls. But some do pile driving with the wood supporting the soils between the piles.
Start with the Toronto West Diamond.

Happens where bridges are built over highways as well for RR bridges.
 
Retaining walls can be both concrete sheet walls, or wood sections inserted between the 'I' beam piles. And in some cases, I have seen both concrete sheet walls and wood retaining walls used in the same excavation - if I recall correctly, I think the King Blue site may have used both types of retaining wall. HOWEVER - the manner in which the I beams were placed was the same - the holes were excavated using a SHORING machine, the I beams were inserted in the hole by the crane cable attachment at the top of the shoring machine, and then as the excavation proceeded, the wood timber sections were inserted. The 'I' beam piles are either supported in place by tie-backs, or in the cases were an adjoining property owner would not accept a tieback agreement and reasonable fee, the pile would be supported by steel beams within the excavation.

The operational consequences, disruptions, risks and associated potential damage costs from pile driver vibrations are such that, in the 38 years we have lived in Toronto (since moving here from Montreal in 1979), I have yet to see an actual pile driving based retaining wall being created in downtown Toronto.


What you're referring to are Caisson Walls or Soldier Piles with Lagging. The method used depends on soil type and conditions.
 
This is worth a view:

That was an amusing look at squares in New York, though I wasn't being that literal. If a building name refers to a public space, that public space should actually exist or at least be in the planning stages. Squares are sometimes landscaped like parks, though they're almost always surrounded on all sides by streets.
 

Back
Top