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It has been a couple of months since we last checked in on construction activity on the first phase of CIBC Square, a two-tower office complex by Ivanhoé Cambridge and Hines, coming to Bay Street on the south side of Toronto's Financial District. When we last updated progress on the complex's 49-storey, 1.3 million ft² first phase tower in January, a second tower crane had just been installed, and the first signs of foundation forming were evident at the base of the excavated pit.
Work is furthest along at the west end of the pit closest to Bay Street, where the building's P2 level continues to take shape. An update from last Friday shows that crews are forming the P2 level's floor between the rapidly-forming elevator core and the site's northern and southern caisson walls. To assist crews pouring the P2 level's walls, access ledges with walkways are hung around the edges of the formwork for new walls, prior to placing the liquid concrete.
Over on the east side of the site, the earth ramp used by crews and machinery to access the pit is being used less as the majority of deliveries are now being accommodated via construction gates and a work platform along Bay Street, and being hoisted by the tower cranes. Another construction gate alongside Lake Shore Boulevard to the south is where cement trucks supply the concrete pump, visible in the image above with the jointed blue arm.
Designed by UK-based WilkinsonEyre Architects with Toronto's Adamson Associates serving as Architects of Record, the first phase of CIBC Square is expected to open in 2020, with phase 2 to follow in 2023. Upon completion, the complex's two towers will bring a combined 2.9 million ft² of new commercial space to Downtown Toronto, as well as a new park over the rail corridor, a new GO terminal, retail space, all while extending the PATH pedestrian network.
