Toronto St Lawrence Condos at 158 Front | 91.44m | 26s | Cityzen | a—A

Miscreant · Nov 24, 2017

This will be a handsome addition to this corner. With the development kiddie corner, this area will be completely transformed.

DSC · Nov 24, 2017

Miscreant said:
This will be a handsome addition to this corner. With the development kiddie corner, this area will be completely transformed.

Well, the two developments MAY look OK but I have my doubts. We shall see (clearly not soon at the rate 154/158 has been proceeding!)

philip yates · Nov 24, 2017

I was in the area today and in the interest of saying something positive it looks like a lot is happening now. In addition the pile driver there was a large front end loader working.

Nice to see the progress and thanks for posting the jpegs

AHK · Nov 24, 2017

philip yates said:
I was in the area today and in the interest of saying something positive it looks like a lot is happening now. In addition the pile driver there was a large front end loader working.

Nice to see the progress and thanks for posting the jpegs

The equipment you were referring to was not a pile driver - it is a Shoring Machine.

While the end objective is the same - creation of retaining wall which allows for the below grade portions of a building to be constructed without any intrusion from the perimiter of the site, the difference between in shoring and pile driving is quite pronounced.

Pile Driving involves hammer blows against the top of a steel 'I' beam to hammer it into the ground to the required depth. Pile driving results in major ground based vibration and can result in consequential damage to any building structures in the area. Pile driving does not take place in downtown Toronto - it is too disruptive. The most recent incident in which pile driving was used is outside of downtown - the grade separation for the Barrie line in the Junction area - lots of issues (as well noted in Urbantoronto comments), and that wasn't even downtown.

Shoring machines use a auger to excavate a cylindrical hole in which either a steel 'I' beam may be inserted for use in a lagging based retaining wall, or filled with concrete as part of a shotcrete based retaining wall system. The major disruption from shoring activities is the noise when the augur is extracted and then rotated, to and from, to expel the accumulated earth from the drill bit.

While the differences in terminology may confuse some people on Urbantoronto, shoring machines and pile drivers are really are two completely different ways of building retaining walls for the excavation and construction of below grade structures.

philip yates · Nov 24, 2017

So Mr Edward Skira, (staff member) we have been schooled!

I consider it a positive and appreciate the differentiation. Still happy to see "stuff" happening.

Rufus8 · Nov 26, 2017

A really great location, nice to see the project moving forward.

Edward Skira · Nov 27, 2017

philip yates said:
So Mr Edward Skira, (staff member) we have been schooled!

So we have!

Razz · Nov 27, 2017

November 27. 2017

Breeze · Nov 27, 2017

Thanks Razz!! Great shots. I've said this before, but for us that don't get to the city often, but are looking forward to it when this project is complete, it's great to get these updates.