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Excavation of Plaza's condo development 'Bijou on Bloor' continues through its early stages, now with a second shoring rig on the site. With a sloping property, crews have been working to level out various areas around its perimeter so that the shoring rigs – currently positioned at opposite ends of the site – have ground they can work on.
Our last update on the project shared that the first shoring rig was positioned at the southeast corner of the site, along the Bloor Street sidewalk, and was working on drilling shafts into the ground to create a retaining wall that will keep earth from falling into the Bijou site, as well as support Bloor Street during excavation.
Along the northwestern side of the site, the land was closer to being flat. That part of the site had nearly finished being levelled in advance of shoring work starting along this edge, and now, this is where the new shoring rig has been set.
Below, a close-up of a shaft being drilled by the shoring rig, where an I-beam will be anchored.
Below, we can see steel I-beams already anchored in the ground alongside the wooden fence, installed into the deep shafts one the shoring rig has finished drilling each one. Once all of the I'beams are installed and timber lagging is slatted in between them, the crews will be able to begin excavating without having to worry about any earth collapsing and falling into the pit.
Crews will excavate to three levels underground at the rear of the building, or four levels on the Bloor Street side. The garage will have 168 parking spaces for residents, while 83 spaces will be reserved for retail customers or visitors to the residential suites.
Above the underground levels will be the BDP Quadrangle-designed building, which will rise 12 storeys and have 195 condo suites. On the Bloor Street ground floor there will be double height retail units that will open up to the street, as well as a main street entry for a single grocery-store-size retail unit that will face the back of the complex at its lower ground level, to be accessed by a pair of escalators.
Bijou on Bloor is scheduled for completion in 2025.
More information on the development will come soon, but in the meantime, you can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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