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It has been a while since we checked in on the construction progress of Tridel's Ten York, a 65-storey, Wallman Architects-designed condominium tower currently under construction in Toronto's emerging "South Core" district. When we last looked at the Ten York site, the remains of a historic wharf were in the midst of being uncovered by the project's excavation, and in the time since, the excavation has been all but completed, aside from a temporary dirt ramp on the pointed west side of the triangular site. With the project almost fully excavated, the assembly of Ten York's tower crane kicked off yesterday morning, marking a major milestone in the project's construction, and we were perched atop the York/Queens Quay parking garage to watch the action unfold.
Crane sections started arriving at the construction site for the new condominium early on Monday morning, and a temporary portable hydraulic crane as well as a team of crews were in position at the bottom of the pit to get the process started. The first section of crane was in place by mid-morning, and over the course of the following several hours, the crane assembly moved on section by section.
In the image below, we have a view down into the pit, showing the first section of the crane's mast securely fastened to the concrete crane footing. Beside the lower mast section, the red section with the crane's cab can be seen in position at the bottom of the pit, (the cab itself is hidden from view on the other side of the mast section) awaiting additional mast sections before its installation.
The forward section of the jib arm was the next part or the crane to arrive, after which it was hoisted down into the pit using the temporary crane, to be assembled the following morning.
As the first section of jib arm was being lowered, the next section of mast arrived via flatbed truck.
Work continued into Monday afternoon, and we returned to the site early today to watch the crane assembly's progress. At the time of our arrival, the installation of more mast sections meant that the partially assembled crane had reached eye level, roughly 8 storeys above grade and many more floors above the crane's base.
In the images above and below, we can see the crane cab in place atop the mast, while the crane's main jib arm section sits at the bottom of the pit, awaiting a hoist from the temporary crane. We can also see crews in the process of attaching the counter-jib to the jib.
The counter-jib is an integral element in any tower crane, as it holds the counterweights that keep the entire rig balanced. In the image below, we are given a look at these large concrete counterweights being hoisted and secured into position on the counter-jib.
With the counterweights installed, the partially-assembled crane then rotated roughly 180 degrees to provide some room for the temporary crane to hoist the main section of jib arm into place.
The next step saw the careful lifting of the main jib arm with the assistance of crews on the ground, who carefully guided the massive steel structure using ropes.
The jib arm was then carefully guided into place by waiting crews before the bolts were tightened.
With the jib arm in place, the next step was to disconnect the arm from the chains used to hoist the section into place. Workers, secured with harnesses of course, were sent out onto the jib arm to remove the metal chains, as seen in the image below.
As this is a "flat-top" Comedil 331 which does not require a tower peak, or apex, it appears that just the suspension cables and the main hook block remain to be installed. Once the crane is fully assembled, Ten York's upward climb towards its 68-storey peak is primed to begin.
Additional information and renderings can be found in our dataBase file for the project, linked below. Want to get in on the discussion? Choose one of the associated Forum thread links, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
| Related Companies: | II BY IV DESIGN, Janet Rosenberg & Studio, Rebar Enterprises Inc, Tridel, Unilux HVAC Industries Inc. |
