Tag Archives: crane

Construction crane installation underway at ChazYorkville condo tower site on Charles St E

ChazYorkville crane installation

February 12 2013: Already standing in place at the ChazYorkville condo construction site are the mast, operator’s cab, and machinery & counterweight arm of the tall white crane being installed today. The long boom that extends diagonally toward the upper right corner of the photograph …

 

 

ChazYorkville crane installation

… is part of this portable crane, parked on Charles Street. It hoists segments of the construction crane off flatbed delivery trucks …

 

 

ChazYorkville crane installation

… and maneuvers them into position so crews can assemble the jib (working arm) that will eventually be lifted and attached to the fixed-place crane. 

 

Chaz gets its crane: The block of Charles Street between Yonge and Church Streets is closed to traffic today as crews from Total Crane Rental install a tall white construction crane on the building site for the ChazYorkville condo tower.

The crane’s arrival appeared imminent in recent days as construction crews created a concrete pad for the crane’s base at the bottom of the 5-level-deep excavation for the 47-storey condo tower.

 

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Crane removed at ETFO office construction site as concrete pour, steel frame installation concludes

ETFO office building Toronto

April 29 2012: The yellow and black portable crane assists with the removal of the white construction crane from the ETFO office building site on Isabella Street

 

ETFO office building Toronto

April 29 2012: The operator’s cab for the construction crane is slowly lowered to a flatbed truck waiting on Isabella Street

 

ETFO office building Toronto

April 29 2012: A southwest view of the 4-storey building, which is being designed to achieve LEED platinum certification

 

ETFO office building

This artistic illustration, one of several renderings that appeared on a New Building Construction page of the ETFO website,  suggests how the building will look once construction is complete in March 2013. The organization’s headquarters was designed by Toronto’s  Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects.

 

Nicely framed: When I last reported on construction progress at the new Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) headquarters on December 8 2011, the building’s ground floor was still beginning to take shape. Only four months later, construction crews have finished pouring concrete and assembling steel framework for all four floors of the structure, and have also installed windows along sections of the first floor. And just this weekend, crews disassembled and removed the big white construction crane that had towered above the site since the middle of last August.

 

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Crane comes off YWCA Elm Centre building site

YWCA Elm Centre

March 7 2011: Two portable cranes remove segments from the main construction crane that helped build the YWCA Elm Centre apartment building

 

Project completion looms closer: You can’t miss the new YWCA Elm Centre apartment building at the corner of Elizabeth and Elm Streets downtown, and not just because it’s located between two very busy downtown landmarks: the Hospital for Sick Children and the Toronto bus terminal. Thanks to the bright blue window and wall panels accenting its 17-storey tower on Elm Street and most of its 10-storey wing along Elizabeth, the Centre is highly visible for blocks in several directions.

On Tuesday, the Centre stood out even more when two portable cranes pulled onto the west side of the property and began taking down the tall white construction crane that had helped build the YWCA complex during much of the past two years. Construction crane removal is always a sign that a building project is nearing completion, and the YWCA website does state that the new facility is expected to open in the middle of this year.

The $80 million complex will be “the largest affordable and supportive housing development for women in Canada” with 300 apartments geared mainly to low-income women and their families, women with addiction and mental health issues, and families of aboriginal ancestry. The Centre also will be “home to YWCA Toronto’s new administrative headquarters and a hub for women-focused events and activities in our city,” the website explains. More information about the Centre and a “virtual tour” of the building is available on the website.

Below are more photos of the YWCA Elm Centre.

 

YWCA Elm Centre

January 3 2011: Southeast view of YWCA Elm Centre from Edward Street

 

YWCA Elm Centre

January 3 2011: South view of YWCA Elm Centre from Chestnut Street

 

YWCA Elm Centre

January 8 2011: East view from the corner of Bay and Edward Streets

 

YWCA Elm Centre

March 7 2011: The yellow crane lowers a large segment that had been detached from the fixed-in-place crane used to build the YWCA facility

 

YWCA Elm Centre

March 7 2011: The bottom half of the fixed crane is visible at right