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Shears at work

Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Shears on large excavator tearing materials down from law library exterior

Shears on this large excavator are tearing off materials from the exterior walls of the law library.


If you're walking along Queen's Park Crescent or along Philosopher's Walk, that crunching sound is the large excavator at work. Attached to it are the shears to tear off exterior walls from the Bora Laskin Library. Today, the south end is being torn down.

 

Law library steel foundation visible after the exterior wall materials were removed.

Here on the north and west side of the law library, the walls have been removed and site cleanup continues. Refuse is sorted, and salvaged whenever possible.

 

 

Photos: Lucianna Ciccocioppo

Building the construction road

Monday, March 31, 2014

Work has begun on building the temporary road that will enable demolition and construction vehicles and materials to be brought on-site. The road includes a "mud mat": an erosion control system to allow mud from site to be driven off the wheels prior to the trucks entering the road.

The much-anticipated demolition of the Moot Court Room will begin in a week or two.

Building the construction road

 

 

Getting ready for the next phase

Friday, March 14, 2014
Tree mulch being re-used on site

Tree mulch from the construction process is being re-used on site to protect the roots of the trees that have been preserved on the construction site.

Meanwhile, as preparation continues for the external demolition phase, the new steel frame for the air handling unit has been hoisted onto the roof. The air handling unit for Flavelle House had to be relocated for the construction process.

Steel frame fro air handling unit

First crane comes and goes

Monday, March 3, 2014
Crane removing the rooftop heating unit from library rooftop.

Weekend activity included the arrival of a crane to remove the rooftop heating unit on Saturday from the Bora Laskin library building to facilitate the new roofing system and exterior demolition. It will be relocated, and rest assured, Flavelle House offices will remain warm during this Winter. That. Never. Ends.

Exterior demolition set to begin

Friday, February 28, 2014

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.

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

Rooftop panorama

Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Panorama view from Flavelle House roof

Photo: Alex Kranyak

Click here to see the full panorama photograph.

Another breathtaking view from the rooftop of the former Bora Laskin Law Library. This is the view that will greet the new Jackman Law Building upon its completion. A great law school deserves great facitilies--and a stunning inspirational view doesn't hurt either.

Demolition update

Mayo Moran
Thursday, January 30, 2014

From the Dean of the Faculty of Law

I am writing to provide you with an update regarding our building project. 

Extensive demolition of affected portions of Bora Laskin has occurred since the start of this academic year; indeed much of Bora Laskin is now totally unrecognizable as you will see from the photos on our construction blog site. Although construction has started, for reasons beyond our control it has proceeded somewhat slower than we had hoped. I wanted you to know that we have been working very closely with the University central administration and the project team to ensure that our building project moves ahead as quickly as possible. The results have been positive and we expect that a much more intensive phase of construction will begin shortly. This phase will pose more disruption in the Flavelle House and Bora Laskin area and I will ensure that you are aware when activities ramp up significantly.

More demolition on the rooftop

Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Rooftop mechanical screen structure

Photo: Alex Kranyak

Here you see the demolition of the mechanical screen on the roof of the Bora Laskin Law Library building. This screen was in place to hide the cooling tower on the existing roof, which has also been removed. This is being completed to facilitate the structural demolition. No other mechanical equipment will be coming down, but the existing roof top unit will be relocated to facilitate the new construction.

 

Roof with a view

Thursday, January 23, 2014
view of Toronto from Flavelle House rooftop

Photo: Alex Kranyak

 

Never let sub-zero temperatures get in the way of a great shot. It's -15 C, with a windchill making it feel like -23 C. Eastern Construction's Alex Kranyak, project engineer, took a moment to survey the cityline from the Bora Laskin Law Library rooftop, just after 9 am today. Spectacular view.

Guarding the angels—and more—with a vibration monitor

Friday, January 17, 2014
frescoe of angel as seen in Flavelle House

The antique finishes, the crown moulding, the hand-painted frescoes, the ornate wood carvings, these are some of the iconic finishes that we—faculty, students, staff and alumni—love so much in Flavelle House.

And these are the very things that the soon-to-be-installed vibration monitor will help protect, says Eastern’s project manager Dean Walker.

“We’ll have a computerized monitoring system set up in the basement of Flavelle, to measure the impact of vibrations, and any particle movement. The assessment will determine the zone of influence, and there will be monitoring within that zone.”

How it works: the system will send an email to the crew any time the vibrations fall in that zone range. The crew will then assess and determine an appropriate course of action to reduce the impact.

“We would investigate what’s going on specifically to cause that alert. It could be a beam coming down, a one-time occurrence, and set off the monitor. The threshold is set below the allowable limit,” says Walker. “We do not want to negatively affect the building’s history, crack any structural supports, or architectural finishes, mouldings or plaster.”

In Flavelle House, the largest vibration-creating activity will be the structural demolition of the building.

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