Toronto Maple Leaf Square | 185.92m | 54s | Lanterra | KPMB

Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

With this development, the new Telus tower, an addition to the western face of the Air Canada Centre, possible Union Station alterations and whatever Infinity phase will be built across the street, this will become an extremely intense construction zone over the next few years!
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

^Empire state was a unique example in a time when workers were plenty and new forms of construction were being tested that significantly reduced the time to complete a building.
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

^ and there were virtually no labour laws, unions or extensive government regulation... WSIB, MoL, basically no health and safety programs. And most importantly there was a huge pool of cheap labour in that era - now there are serious shortages of skilled labour. It is difficult for builders and developers to employ as large or strong a labour force as necessary at many sites. This slows the process as well.

There may also be delays with some specific materials depending on market conditions.

And the buildings built today are much more complicated in all the building systems - HVAC, heating, cooling, computer systems, extensive environmental controls and conservation measures, water systems etc... - smarter buildings esentially.

Also the structure has four underground levels in difficult ground - when the ACC was constructed all construction stopped when the remains of a large old ship was found - excavation will not be easy on the site and the podium is a massive structure which will take about a year to complete - once at that point the towers will rise quickly.
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

During the peak of construction, there were more than 3,000 men at work at one time. They stacked roughly 10 million bricks and 200,000 cubic feet of Indiana limestone into the shape of a pencil standing on its eraser. The 103 floors took 410 days to complete.

"The workers were delighted to have jobs, it was as simple as that," says Tauranac. "The irony is the workers put up this building in record time. They put it up at the rate of about four-and-a-half floors per week. And here are these workers who threw the building into the air faster and higher than anybody had ever dreamed, found themselves at Christmastime without a job."
Click to expand...

Imagine 3000 constuction workers on Maple Leaf Square all at one time. Big difference.

www.npr.org/programs/morn...pirestate/
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

The Empire State Building is an office building where space is leased, not sold. The sooner the building is complete the sooner there's income and the sooner you can prevent potential tennants from locating elsewhere. (It was pointless anyway, the depression hit and the building was virtually empty for years.)
With a condo, most units are presold so there's no reason to pay a premium to rush construction.
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

^ Actually there is good reason to get the tower done quickly if it is 'sold' since the developer faces significant carrying costs and will not receive income from purchasers until the units are occupied and then closed.

The faster the project is completed the lower the costs are for the developer and the quicker deposits and payments are received.

There is nothing to gain by dragging out the construction period except for higher costs and greater uncertainty/risk (labour, material costs and other potential unforeseen consequences).
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

Yes, the developer wants the project completed as soon as possible to collect his profit, but to speed construction to ESB speeds would require more expenses such as weekend work (most concrete plants don't run on weekends so concrete is extra expensive then.) The balance is always to keep costs down and constuction moving quickly but it's costs that often have more affect on the bottom line.
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

I don't want to create too much of a tangent here but have you ever seen a construction site in a developing country? In China the sites are like a disturbed ant hill. You'll get like 12 guys working on the finishing in one 700 sqft apartment. Off hand I don't know what the labour ratio is but I wouldn't be surprised if there were any fewer then 10 workers doing the job of 1 worker here.
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

I saw a guy up a ladder fixing a sprinkler or something in BCE basement a couple of weeks ago ... and seven other workmen watching him.
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

Man! Sounds like government work to me.
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

Sounds like your typical construction site. Was there a cop standing there in an orange vest?
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

in February i went down and stayed for a week in a condo my parents were renting in Mexico.. there was a workman installing a new screen door on one of the other balconies and it took him 3 full days of work to do what should have been a one hour job. then again he didn't have any power tools.. but still! funny stuff
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

How long does construction take for similar-sized projects in the United States? Western Europe?
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

Depends where you're talking about. Things in NYC and Chicago tend to be a little faster due to different parking circumstances--as there are no parking requirements in NY, and so many buildings have none, and in Chicago it is often above ground. That said you stiill need a pretty deep foundation for a large building whether or not it's full of parking so the difference is small. I am no engineer--this is just based on my observations of watching skyscrapers go up over the last few years. Maybe someone with more knowledge can give more specifics...

One thing to consider re: Asia etc is that Canada has some of the toughest building codes in the world.
 
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail

NYC loves steel which has the advantage of not needing time to cure
 
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