We have closely followed the construction of Emerald Park Condos at the corner of Yonge and Bogert, just south of Sheppard in the changing neighbourhood of North York. Completion will the project will occur this year, and we are now in the final steps of construction. Over the end of 2014 our forum contributors provided us with an interesting series of photos showing the dismantling of both the east and west tower cranes.

The 32-storey West tower was the first to see its crane removed at the end of November 2014. To allow the disassembly, a mobile crane was set up at the base of the building to reach the crane jib standing above the building, leading to a road closure on Beecroft Road over the weekend.

The mobile crane standing at the foot of Emerald Park West Tower last November, picture by sunnyraytoronto

It was only a matter of days before the steel structure was gone, but it certainly was an impressive spectacle to see the crane sections emerging from the tower and making their way down to the ground. Indeed, unlike its east tower sibling, the west crane was anchored to a concrete pad within the building's footprint at the very beginning of the construction. As the tower was built around it, the crane was gradually raised through the building.

The mobile crane standing at the foot of Emerald Park West Tower last November, picture by sunnyraytoronto

Questions were posted in our Projects & Construction Forum thread for Emerald Park regarding whether or not tower cranes rise inside elevator shafts. It's a common misconception in fact. In most cases openings are left in the floor slabs through which the cranes rise. Every five floors or so, the crane is jacked higher with hydraulics, and then fastened to recently formed but now cured floor slabs. The openings below can then be filled in. Cranes are nearly never located in the elevator shafts, as the elevators are normally required to be in operation for interior finishing purposes before the crane is no longer needed.

The East tower's crane dismantling in December 2014, picture by sunnyraytoronto

The removal of the crane on the taller East tower occurred a few weeks after the West tower's crane was removed. For this tower, a self-erecting external climbing crane was used. This type of crane is unconventionally located outside of the building's floor plate, and with a 42-storey tower to build, this was the second tallest of its type in Toronto, after a similar one at the L Tower. This story from 2012 shows how this type of crane is erected.

The crane on the east tower making its way down, picture by sunnyraytoronto

With a mast that runs the full height of the building, a different technique had to be used to take it down. Segments the equivalent of 2 storeys in height were indeed removed one by one, lowering the crane until it reached the upper levels of the podium, at which point a mobile crane was brought to dismantle the last parts, eventually making the almost complete tower crane-free.

A mobile crane removed the last segment of the East tower's exterior crane, picture by sunnyraytoronto

Segments of the crane stored at the bottom of the tower after they were removed, picture by sunnyraytoronto

Once completed in the next few months, these new iconic flared structures designed by Rosario "Roy" Varacalli and developed by Metropia, Bazis and Plaza will bring another 564 units to the North York City Centre, most of them offering commanding views across the Greater Toronto Area, some towards Downtown Toronto and Lake Ontario in the distance. 

Additional information and renderings can be found in our Emerald Park Condos dataBase file, linked below. If you want to get involved in the discussion, check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment in the section provided at the bottom of this page.