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A tower crane has now been erected at the site of the new Ontario Court of Justice, just northwest of City Hall in Downtown Toronto. Designed by the acclaimed Renzo Piano Building Workshop working alongside local firm NORR Architects, the Infrastructure Ontario project will consolidate several Ontario court facilities into a 17-storey building at Armory Street and Centre Avenue.
Work on the site has been ramping up over the course of the last several weeks, with new hoarding and site trailers arriving in February. With the excavated pit now bottomed out—as deep as 9 metres for portions of the site—a tower crane was recently installed near its centre, allowing for the start of forming of the building's foundations and underground levels.
The latest photos of the site show that the first elements of the foundations are underway at the base of the pit. Rebar cages and poured concrete slabs are forming around the thick concrete pad the tower crane rests on, marking the first upward construction for the project. Forming of the underground structures is expected to continue for a few months before the structure reaches grade.
Infrastructure Ontario is aiming to have the building open for Spring 2022. Once complete, the building—targeting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Silver certification—will feature 63 courtrooms of various configurations and sizes, as well as the first Indigenous Learning Centre in an Ontario courthouse.
Looking to the future, mock-ups depicting a courtroom, interview room, and public counter within the new tower were built in an off-site facility in late 2018.
Additional information and images can be found in our database file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment in the field provided at the bottom of this page.
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