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14 months since the star-studded ground breaking at the site of Nobu Residences Toronto—including a headline-grabbing political remark from Hollywood icon Robert DeNiro—construction of the mixed-use project from Madison Group and Westdale Properties is progressing on Mercer Street in the Entertainment District. Paving the way for the pair of 45-storey, Teeple Architects-designed towers, early site preparation work is in full swing as the project enters its excavation phase.
When we last updated the site's status two months ago, shoring rigs had vacated the site as the final steps in the heritage facade retention process were wrapping up, and excavators had mobilized to begin the site's dig phase. Over the next several months, crews will excavate down 23 metres to create space for the site's foundations and six-level underground garage.
Excavation has already progressed a few metres below grade, revealing a pile and lagging shoring system along the site's south and east sides. During the now-complete drilling phase, steel I-beams were inserted vertically into boreholes drilled around the site's perimeter. As the excavation progresses, horizontal timber lagging is installed between the beams, holding back the surrounding soil.
Below the preserved heritage facades, the vertical steel piles affixed into the ground during the shoring process are now being surrounded by wire and shotcrete walls, as a horizontal drilling rig installs the first row of tiebacks directly underneath.
The tiebacks, visible as bundles of rebar protruding diagonally from the shoring wall, anchor the shoring walls to the surrounding soil during excavation.
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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