Construction Updates

Since our last update, construction of the 123 Portland underground has been progressing and we are currently working on the decking for the ground floor!  Our first concrete pour of the ground slab will be completed in June which is a big milestone for the construction team.  The ground floor is a very complex slab with drops & beams and tonnes of infrastructure tying the garage & future upper levels together. 

The Formwork trade works in a sequence of verticals-to-horizontals in order to build the structure.  The M&E trades follow behind to drop sleeves (for future Mechanical piping) or run conduit between the bottom & top layers of steel.  Once complete, the Formwork trade pours concrete. Freshly poured slabs are supported by shoring jacks below.  As construction progresses and shoring jacks are reduced or removed, M&E trades are able to start doing their main building work below while the forming process continues up above.

All City services & under slab drainage has been installed.  Next up is working with both Toronto Hydro & Enbridge to bring in our main power & gas feeds to the building.

If you’ve been by the corner of Portland Avenue & Adelaide Street West lately, you will see a tall luffer crane standing in the middle of the 123 Portland site! Our tower crane was erected this past weekend and pending final connections from Toronto Hydro is poised to assist the Formwork trade with placing steel and concrete. We are currently working on perimeter footings which ultimately form the foundation of the entire building and digging sump & elevator pits. We will be concentrating on verticals for the elevator core as we begin our concrete structure.  

Although the shoring and bulk excavation works are now completed, you will see the long reach excavator at the top and a mini excavator still in the hole. The excavator will assist with digging the footings and moving the materials to a corner of the site where the long reach picks it up and loads it into a dump truck for offsite removal.

Our main connections to City services such as water & sanitary have also been completed.

As foundations progress, we will be working on underground drainage & foundation waterproofing. It won’t take long before you will begin to see the 123 Portland tower rise up from the site!

Now that vertical drilling is complete, we are ready to begin excavation at 123 Portland.  The shoring drill rig will be demobilized and replaced with the excavator’s equipment.  The shoring & excavation trades will work as a team to excavate the site in lifts which allows the shoring trade to lag between piles and install tiebacks as we work our way down to the bottom of the excavation.  Throughout the day, dump trucks will be in & out of the site hauling away fill.  

In a few months, we will begin to excavate for footings and the crane base (eventually erecting the tower crane) as well as starting perimeter drainage and waterproofing.

Site activities are carefully planned as real estate on site is at a premium.  With limited room for staging of materials and equipment, the site team & trades are in constant communication about the day-to-day and future activities to ensure all are able to work safely and efficiently.

Construction is well underway at 123 Portland!  Since demolition of the existing buildings on the site was completed in March, we’ve been very busy over the last few months preparing the site for construction and beginning the install of our temporary shoring system.  The construction team have been working on enclosing the site, exposing the utilities abutting our property and generally working within the tight confines of a tiny site in the heart of a very active neighbourhood.

Our shoring contractor mobilized in early July and began drilling vertical piles around the perimeter of the site.  The 123 Portland shoring system is comprised of both continuous caisson walls and a typical pile & lagging system which work to support surrounding loads, like neighbouring buildings, properties and streets, until the underground levels of the structure have been completed.

Minto Communities GTA celebrated this key milestone in mid-August with a ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony attended by a small group of employees and key stakeholders.

Heavy machinery has arrived at 123 Portland marking the start of construction. The site has been cleared of the old buildings and now is getting ready for construction. The shoring process will begin around the site which holds back the soil during the excavation phase.