Anyone who has wandered along Queens Quay past Yonge over the last several weeks has certainly noticed the elaborate scaffold rising at the construction site of Cityzen and Fernbrook’s Waterlink at Pier 27. The topped-out condominium development, which consists of four architectsAlliance-designed 11-storey slabs joined in pairs by 3-storey skybridges, is now undergoing cladding and interior work, and the large temporary scaffold structures play an important role in their completion.

Aerial view of Waterlink at Pier 27, image by Jack Landau

When we last checked in on the project in early October, the scaffold between the two eastern towers was almost fully assembled. Now, a month and a half later, a second scaffold is rising steadily between the two western towers. These complicated webs of aluminum and steel provide a necessary staging area for workers to clad the underside of the distinctive skybridges.

A second scaffold is now rising between the two western towers, image by Jack Landau

Temporary scaffold between Pier 27's two eastern towers, image by Jack Landau

While it may seem like a great deal of work to go through for such a simple task, the cost of labour and materials for the construction of scaffolding is lower than that of other methods. Ease of assembly and disassembly was another key factor in the builder’s choice to use scaffolding.

Note the temporary platform to clad underside of the eastern bridge (lower right), image by Jack Landau

Though it may be the most cost and time efficient solution, a closer look at the completed eastern scaffold gives some insight into just how much metal tubing was involved in the assembly of this temporary structure.

Close up of eastern scaffold, image by Jack Landau

With the eastern scaffold completed and the western scaffold well underway, work is continuing on the interior of the skybridges with concrete floors now covering all but one level of the two skybridges. The lowest floor on the western bridge is the sole remaining level with an unfinished exposed corrugated sheet metal floor.

Western skybridge - note the lower floor awaiting it's concrete surface, image by Jack Landau

Freshly buffed concrete floor slab on the eastern bridge, image by Craig White

Cladding is also now being applied to the exterior of the project-defining skybridges, and that is something we will closely examine in our next installment tomorrow.

Until then, a comprehensive collection of project facts, floorplans and renderings can be found in our dataBase file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or voice your opinion in the comments section provided at the bottom of this page.