2020

55/61 Charles St.

Volume of waste & percentage recycled: All the materials that come from the building will be recycled, used as backfill for a lake and eventually for the future expansion of the Ash Bridges Bay Water Treatment Plant

There is a high demand for housing in the city of Toronto and therefore new developments are required while existing outdated buildings need to be demolished. 55 Charles St (9-storey) and 61 Charles St (3-storey) are two buildings located side by side in the heart of the city that needed to be taken down in order to make space for a 50-storey condominium development.

The demolition of both buildings had a tight timeline of 17.5 weeks. First we removed the elevator carts so that the elevator shaft could be used as a drop zone for garbage and other materials to exit the building. The project commenced with a type-3 abatement inside the 3-storey building to remove the asbestos. While the abatement was underway, crews started stripping the interior of the 9-storey building to prepare it for demolition. The 3-storey structure was demolished first (and in just 10 days) to make room for high reach equipment needed for the 9-storey building. For the high reach demolition we used a combination of the Komatsu 850, 80 ton and the Komatsu 450, 50 ton excavator to assist with clean-up. To protect nearby buildings, a crane suspended protection screen was used to prevent falling debris.

After the structural demolition was complete, the clean-up crew took over. Once the debris was removed the crew proceed with removing the foundation walls and backfill for future construction. Environmental considerations are always at the forefront of our demo plan, and we were able to ensure that all of the materials that came out of the building were recycled.