Exterior demolition set to begin

Exterior demolition is set to begin. After the removal of select trees, deemed unhealthy or non-native by the arborist, the project will ramp up for significant tear-down.

• See my earlier post about the revitalization of green space with native trees, plants, foliage and bushes upon completion of the new building.

Eastern Construction’s project manager Dean Walker says roadways into the site will be constructed, and the rooftop unit on the Bora Laskin library building will be relocated with the help of a crane from Queen’s Park.

By mid-March, full-scale demolition will commence with the exterior tear down of the Moot Court, and a clearing from east to west of the building. Shears on a large excavator will speed up the work.

New landscape plan

Noisy? Yes. Expect “the crunching of concrete and shearing of steel” says Walker, as the machinery “chews the building apart.” Actual demolition time for the Moot Court will be short, says Walker, with separation and cleanup of the debris taking considerably longer. There will be “beeping” of the back-up alarms and a steady hum of equipment as the machinery and trucks move in and out of the site.

By early April, the project moves into shoring and caisson drilling, requiring a crane-mounted drill rig. “A caisson footing has been designed at the south end of the building to carry the weight of the cantilevered building section,” says Walker.

The structural engineer’s on-site presence will increase in April as well, says Walker, “to review the reshoring of the existing building, and the structure for the new building.”