Construction is progressing on the Parliament Street Data Centre, a 5-storey, 22,000 m² data facility from developer Bresler. The development will soon serve as a next generation TR2 IBX Data Centre for lead tenant Equinix who will be using over 35% of the building's total of 2,450 cabinets. While work on the building's east side remains at ground level, the west side of the structure is now at the fourth level. 

Parliament Street Data Centre as seen on April 13th 2014, image by Forum member Razz

UrbanToronto Forum contributor 'Razz' has a great bird's-eye view over the site from high up in the Distillery District, and over the past few days he has shared his view of the concrete pour for the Data Centre's fourth floor.

Concrete flowing for the Data Centre's fourth floor, as seen on April 17th 2014, image by Forum member Razz

A long-armed portable concrete pump—fed by a convoy of cement trucks—has been delivering concrete up to the fourth floor, where workers were ready to smooth the fresh mix throughout an awaiting latticework of steel rebar. The locations where the fourth floor's supporting columns are soon to be installed can be seen below, highlighted by the teal protective coverings which stop workers from accidentally impaling themselves on the the rebar which protrudes from the top of the third floor's columns directly below. The coverings will soon come off, rebar to extend the columns another story will be tied in, forms with be positioned, and the concrete for the extended columns will be poured.

Aerial view of concrete being poured for the Data Centre's fourth floor, image by Forum member Razz

As of Sunday afternoon, the concrete pour for this section of floor had been completed, and work is now moving on the the structure's fifth and final floor at the north side.

Parliament Street Data Centre as seen on April 20th 2014, image by Forum member Razz

Once enough of the structure is complete, work will commence on the building's cladding - a combination of smooth and ribbed porcelain panels and hung over a clear glass first storey. The cladding is meant to evoke the image of an early computer era punch card. Once construction on the project has been completed, the over 236,000 square-foot, WZMH Architects-designed facility will house approximately 13,000 square meters of "white space" for servers, one floor dedicated to building systems, and tenant offices occupying the ground level frontage.

Parliament Street Data Centre, image courtesy of Bresler

For more information about the Parliament Street Data Centre, check out our dataBase file for the building, linked below, or choose the associated Forum thread link to get in on the conversation. You can also leave a comment in the space provided at the bottom of this page.

Related Companies:  Trillium Architectural Products, WZMH Architects