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Page D-2 Demolition & Environmental Engineering Daily Commercial News April 27, 2018

IAN HARVEYCORRESPONDENT

Old buildings come in two forms: those destined for demolition and those destined for restoration and preservation.

There’s not much wiggle room because ignoring old struc-tures’ predicaments usually leads to option one, demolition by neglect.

It’s that no-man’s land where the National Trust for Canada is trying drawing attention to those building in danger of crumbling under the burden of time and weath-er for lack of purpose and support.

One of its tools in highlighting historic structures is the Top 10 Endangered Places List published since 2005, putting the spotlight on landmarks and architectural trea-sures by attracting media attention. The 2018 endangered places list, sponsored by the Canadian Construction Asso-ciation this year, will be released on May 23.

The list does have some impact, The Guild Inn in east Toronto, for example, was on the 2011 list despite years of efforts to preserve both the surrounding park and the struc-ture. Dating from 1914 it was a residence that became an artists’ colony, a wartime PTSD hospital and a hotel over time.

By 2001 it was vacant and decaying and in 2008 was

damaged by fire. With some $16 million invested since then it has reopened as a restaurant and conference and event centre.

Chris Wiebe, Manager of Heritage Policy & Govern-ment Relations, says it is stories like the Guild Inn which help drive other campaigns forward because there is hope things can change.

“The diversity on the list is quite remarkable,” he says. “And it brings national attention to a range of places in trouble, right across the country.”

Many types of structures are impacted, he says and the 2017 list, for example, includes the Black Horse Pub (1882) and Pig’s Ear Tavern (1856) in Peterborough, Ontario which are slated for demolition as efforts continue to try and save them.

Another grand dame is the Cathédrale Saint-Germain (1862) in Rimouski, Que. which is closed due to safety issues. Repairs could cost up to $20 million.

With the decline of congregations in traditional church-es, many are being left to rot, be torn down for condos or converted into condos, says Wiebe, and many are architec-turally significant.

Then there are entire neighbourhoods such as Young Avenue, in Halifax, N.S., a streetscape of upscale residenc-es from the 19th and 20th Century. Many of these homes could be demolished. Some are institutional buildings which have always seen cycles such as the old style red school house which was long ago left behind to be con-verted into commercial or residential use.

That’s happening with newer schools too, he says, point-ing to Davisville Junior Public School in Toronto, a 1962 modern-style design which doesn’t meet current Toronto Public School Board guidelines but is significant because of the architects who created it.

Others, such as Bryn Mawr, Baird Cottage, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, dates from 1907 and is at the heart of law-suit over forced heritage designation between the city and the owner.

In Lethbridge, Alta., the Manie Opera Society, also knowns as the Kwong On Lung building, built in 1907, is the oldest in downtown Lethbridge but is crumbling because of a lack of a new owner and purpose.

There also is 896 Somerset House in Ottawa on Bank Street which is a Queen Anne style structure falling apart due to neglect.

Hangar 11 is the last of the Second World War han-gars at Edmonton’s now closed municipal airport which is slated for demolition to make way for a new “sustainable community” development.

The Sinclair Centre in Vancouver, B.C. is four con-nected buildings — the former Main Post Office (1910), the R.V. Winch Building (1911), the Customs Examining Warehouse (1913) and the Post Office Extension Building (1936) which together take up a city block downtown.

Ironically, the federal government which owns the property wants to put a 29 storey office tower there which would cause a “loss of portions or all of one or two of the heritage buildings on the site.”

British Columbia faces unique heritage challenges because of seismic risks, he says, with the default position that if retrofitting older buildings costs more than 60 per cent of the cost of a new one, then demolition is the default option.

Finding the right owner with the right usage plan for a heritage structure takes time, Wiebe says.

“Often we’re just impatient to solve the problem,” he says.The ultimate solution is to find a workable arrangement

whereby the owner gets a concession, either in the form of tax credits or in the way of higher density or more floor and square footage to recoup the investment in renovating over demolition.

“There are efforts in motion such as Bill C323 which call for tax incentives like they have in the U.S. for the last 40 years,” he says.

All stakeholders need to see the bigger picture, he says, and think outside the box because a building which is 100 years old doesn’t mean it’s unsustainable, he says.

Heritage buildings, with their high ceiling and opening windows, can’t be assessed against modern day specifications.

“We had one building in which one engineer recom-mended demolition but a second who had experience with old structures, came to a different conclusion,” Wiebe says.

“There needs to be a thoughtful and right kind of assessment.”The carbon footprint of a new building and demoli-

tion also needs to be factored in to the equation, he adds, with the existing structure representing carbon which has already been vested and where preservation incurs far fewer total emissions.

©2018 CanaData. All rights reserved.

John Clinkard

Vol. 16, Issue 8

Economic Snapshot

Quebec’s economic outlook is one of the brightest in Canada

Midway through the first half of 2018, the key indicators of Quebec’s economic health collectively suggest that La Belle Province is in very good shape.

This being said, there is evidence that after posting an estimated gain of 3% in 2017, its strongest showing since 2000, the Quebec economy will grow at a more sustainable rate in the range of 2.0% to 2.5% through the remainder of 2018 and well into 2019.

High on the list of indicators reflecting the current positive state of the Quebec economy

is the province’s labour market. Although the pace of hiring has cooled slightly since mid 2017, total employment is up by 85K over the past twelve months.

Taking a closer look at the composition of the solid increase in headline employment, over the past year full-time hiring in the province is up by 150K, more than offsetting a 65k drop in part-time employment.

Also, according to the most recent Statistics Canada job vacancy report, the total number of job vacancies in the province has increased by 46% over the past twelve months, twice the increase exhibited by the country as a whole. This jump took the job vacancy rate to a three-year high of 2.6% in the final quarter of 2017.

Given the very strong growth of full-time hiring over the past twelve months, it is not surprising that, based on the results of its most recent (March) Survey of Consumer Confidence, the Confer-ence Board in Canada reported that “Quebecers remain the most confident in the country”.

Against this background of burgeoning consumer confidence, solid growth of average weekly earnings and persisting low interest rates, consumer spending and housing demand have contributed to very robust growth of domestic demand throughout 2017 and into 2018.

Indeed, despite the impact of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institution’s more stringent mortgage stress test, Quebec was the only province to see a year-over-year increase in March home sales.

Despite the strong pattern of existing home sales, single-family starts have exhibited little change over the past year. However, fuelled by the combination of record net in-migration, the above-noted growth of full-time employment and a sharp drop in apart-ment vacancy rates, starts of multiple units are up by a very strong 37.8% year to date.

Further, given the positive outlook for employ-ment indicated by the higher job vacancy rate and the fact that applications to build multiple units are up by 17% y/y in February, the outlook for residential con-struction in the province remains quite bright during the remainder of this year and into 2019.

The outlook for capital spending in Quebec in 2018 is definitely brighter than it was in 2017. Con-sistent with the very high level of optimism among

Quebec’s entrepreneurs, the Business Development Bank of Can-ada’s (BDC) Investment Intentions Survey revealed that the prov-ince’s small- and medium-sized businesses are planning to boost their investment spending by 11% this year, well ahead of the 0.5% increase they planned during 2017.

This improved investment outlook is very much in line with the more comprehensive Statistics Canada Survey of Non-residen-tial Capital and Repair Expenditures (CAPEX) report. According to Statistics Canada, after contracting by an estimated 2% in 2017, Quebec firms are planning to increase their investment spending by 5.4% in 2018, a five-year high.

At the same time, Statistics Canada reported that Quebec’s public sector capital spending is projected to increase by 4.9% this year after posting a gain of 8.7% in 2017. It is also worth noting that the Statistics Canada CAPEX survey was undertaken ahead of the Quebec Budget released on March 28.

While much of the money committed in the budget will be spent in the medium term, the government, facing a fall election and flush with a 4.2% increase in revenues in fiscal 2017-18, added $9.3 billion to the Quebec Infrastructure Plan.

According to the Budget, the government now plans to invest $100.9 billion on public infrastructure over the next ten years, mostly on roads (19.9%), health and social services (18.6%) and education (16.1%). The plan includes funding for the Réseau express métropolitain/REM ($6.3 billion), Quebec City’s $3 bil-lion transit network and an extension to Montreal’s Blue Linesubway route.

John Clinkard has over 35 years’ experience as an economist in international, national and regional research and analysis with leading fi nancial institutions and media outlets in Canada.

Real* Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth — Quebec vs Canada

* “Real” is after adjustment for infl ation.

Data Sources: Actuals — Statistics Canada; Forecasts — CanaData.Chart: ConstructConnect — CanaData.

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D at a S ourc e: S t at ist ic s C anada, F orec ast - C anD at a/ C h art C onst ruc t C onnec t , C anaD at a

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Preservation

Demo or reno? National Trust for Canada helps find heritage answers

“Often we’re just impatient to solve the problem,”Chris Wiebe National Trust for Canada

“We had one building in which one engineer recommended demolition but a second who had experience with old structures, came to a different conclusion,”Chris Wiebe National Trust for Canada

Daily Commercial News April 27, 2018 Demolition & Environmental Engineering Page D-3


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DAN O’REILLYCORRESPONDENT

New construction, extensive demoli-tion, and the carefully sequenced preservation of what may be the

highest masonry façade retention in Canada are the hallmarks of a major mixed use rede-velopment on King Street in Toronto’s enter-tainment district.

Designed by Page+Steele/IBI Group and overseen by construction manager Ellis-Don for the Greenland Group, the King Blue Condominium project includes the construction of two condominium tow-ers (48 and 44 storeys) and an eight-storey podium with a five-level underground garage on the site of the former Canadian Westinghouse building.

Construction started in October 2015 and will continue until 2019.

While the historic structure was demol-ished two years ago, the developer has acknowledged the site’s history by preserving the original façade along King Street and the adjacent Blue Jays Way side street and incor-porating it into the podium structure.

The six-storey 23-metre-high heritage wall extends 30 metres along King Street and 32 metres on Blue Jays Way.

“To our knowledge it is the tallest façade retention in Canada to date,” says Paul Ast, principal with Jablonsky AST and Partners.

The Toronto structural consultant designed an exterior streel truss bracing sys-tem which supported the façade while demo-lition of the building and the subsequent excavation of a five-storey underground parking garage were being conducted.

Erected by Pengelly Iron Steel during the first three months of 2016, the trusses rested on grade beams which, in turn, were supported by micropiles. This allowed the existing footings to be fully removed during the excavation of the underground garage, says structural designer Henry Song.

Micropiles were used instead of the pre-ferred options of caissons because of the high congestion of utility lines in the area, he says.

After the micropiles, grade beams and steel trusses were in place, the heritage wall was restrained at each level by steel

members penetrating the windows tied to longitudinal members that “clamped” the wall. Wood block shimming was used to allow for thermal movement without dam-aging it, says Song.

As King Street is a very busy street with streetcar tracks running right in front of the site, the crane lifts had to be carefully planned. Approximately 220,000 kilo-grams of steel were lifted into place with no disruption to the transit system, says EllisDon project manager Neil Christian.

Abatement and interior demolition of the historic building by Quantum Mur-ray had commenced the previous October, and once the façade support system was in place, the contractor was able to proceed with the remaining demolition and saw cutting of the Westinghouse building, says Christian, who estimates the volume of the demolished area at about 60,000 square feet (5,574 square metres).

After the demolition was completed in June 2016, the next phase was the exca-vation and construction of the garage — which reached grade level by June 2017. That was followed by the construction of the podium.

“The slabs were tied into the heritage wall beginning at the first suspended level.”

By last November the construction of the podium had reached the stage where the steel trusses along Blue Jays Way could be taken down, with the ones on King Street removed at the end of March, says Christian.

Preserving the heritage façade, which “floated” over the garage excavation, and then reconnecting it to the podium has been the most challenging phase of the entire project, he says.

Now fully tied into the podium, the non-bearing heritage wall has the ability to independently expand and contract which helps preserve its integrity and appearance, says Jablonsky AST’s Henry Song.

At the same, considerable restoration by Clifford Restoration still has to be under-taken, says Annabel Vaughan, project manager with E.R.A Architects, the heri-tage consultant.

Included in that inventory will be the restoration of key brick pieces and the front door entrance on King Street, plus the installation of heritage-style windows.

“That (the restoration) is just in its baby steps.”

Constructed in the 1930s, the Canadian Westinghouse building served as the com-pany’s corporate headquarters and helped it branch out into other geographic areas. The actual manufacturing was done at a Hamilton, Ont. plant, says Vaughan.

Intricate Demo

Something old, something new on King Blue project

LENSCAPE INCORPORATED

Construction of the King Blue Condominium project required intricate demolition of the former Westinghouse building whose facade was preserved by a unique steel truss system.

LENSCAPE INCORPORATED

The original façade of the Westinghouse building, along King Street and the adjacent Blue Jays Way side street, was preserved during demolition thanks to the steel truss support system picture above right. The system was designed by Jablonsky AST and Partners.

“To our knowledge it is the tallest facade retention in Canada to date,”Paul Ast Jablonsky AST and Partners


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PETER KENTERCORRESPONDENT

When Priestly Demolition arrived on isolated Hope Island in Geor-gian Bay to demolish a dilapidated

lighthouse, some crew members felt a sense of unease. Also known as Snake Island, the site offered plenty of the reptiles to dog the steps of unwary workers. And then there were the legends about ghosts.

The lighthouse was built on the northeast tip of the island in 1884 at a cost of $1,864. The light at the top of the 57-foot tower could be seen for 12 miles in any direction. Legend says that the island’s third lighthouse keeper, John Hoar, confessed on his deathbed to killing two fishermen, Francois Marchildon and Wil-liam Lacourse, who disappeared near Hope Island in the early 1890s. Marchildon’s relatives searched the island in 1906 but found no bod-ies. However, visitors to the island have since reported seeing strange lights hovering above the water and hearing disembodied voices floating through the fog.

The lighthouse had been declared a surplus property by owner Public Works and Govern-ment Services Canada. A metal light tower had long since replaced the original lighthouse and most of the buildings had fallen into ruin. The low-bid contract to demolish the buildings on the property was awarded to Priestly for $562,627. WSP acted as project consultant.

“On the face of it, this was a straightfor-ward demolition job,” says Daniel Campkin, project manager with Priestly. “But because this project was located on an uninhabited island well off the mainland, we had to do a significant amount of planning to meet logis-tical challenges.”

All equipment and supplies were to be transported by barge from the Christian Island Ferry launch, about 12 kilometres across Geor-gian Bay. Priestly contracted Galcon Marine to provide the modular barge, which arrived in eight truckloads from Sarnia and Toronto in early September 2017.

Priestly supplied a 90-tonne crane to assemble the barge segments alongside Gal-

con personnel. It took Priestly workers a week to bolt the components together, while a crew of five performed asbestos abatement on the island. The completed barge measured 90 by 40 feet and five feet deep.

A tugboat towed the barge to and from the island, delivering: a sea can site trailer; three excavators; grapple, hammer and bucket attach-ments; a Bobcat; a bush hog; 16 40-yard roll off containers; and a portable restroom. Once near shore, two hydraulic towers were lowered into the bay bottom to anchor the craft.

“We knew the good weather wouldn’t last forever so we had to make the most of our time,” says Campkin. “Transportation time was always a factor. The work boat we used to transport personnel took from 20 minutes to half an hour to make the trip. The barge took several hours.”

Work included demolition, removal and disposal of the facility’s lighthouse, boathouse, fog house, generator building, wharf and two residences. It also included rough grading of the property and relocation of existing rip-rap

along the shoreline.“These buildings were in very rough shape,”

says Campkin. “We could salvage only a few items, such as doors.”

Following the delivery of equipment, the barge was used to transport debris to the mainland — primarily wood, concrete and brick. On the best days, the barge could make the return trip twice, loading six bins each time and swapping full bins for empty ones on the mainland. On the worst, it couldn’t battle the waves and remained docked.

“Our final job was to grade the property to something approaching its natural state before the lighthouse was built,” Campkin says.

Work was completed at the end of October and the barge returned at the start of November.

Although no skeletal remains of lost fisher-men were discovered on site, Campkin admits that he was sometimes affected by the island’s strange atmosphere.

“You’re working in places that were once hustling and bustling and now they’re silent,” he says.

Logistics

Priestly barges its way in for Hope Island lighthouse demo

PRIESTLY DEMOLITION

Priestly Demolition transported all its equipment and supplies for the Hope Island lighthouse demolition by barge. The lighthouse and its associated buildings are on the left.

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DAN O’REILLYCORRESPONDENT

With large rock trucks moving and stockpiling tons of earth and drones flying overhead, a mammoth remediation of the former Texaco/Imperial Oil

refinery on the shores of Lake Ontario could conjure up images from an old war movie.

But that activity is the forerunner of one Canada’s largest infill projects on a brownfield site in the Port Credit area of Mississauga, Ont. The project marks a new chapter in the his-tory of the site which originally began as a brick factory in the late 1800s.

“There may be projects of a similar scale in the planning stage. But with this one the rubber has hit the road,” says Kilmer Brownfield Equity Fund president David Harper.

Stretching from Lakeshore Road West to the Lake Ontar-io waterfront and from Pine Avenue to Mississauga Road, the site will eventually be transformed into Port Credit West Village, a mixed use community of approximately 2,500 res-idential units, 13,820 square metres of retail space, 22,750 square metres of commercial, and a 4.8-acre park along the waterfront.

The remediation and the ensuing redevelopment are being spearheaded by West Village Partners, a development consortium consisting of the Kilmer Group, Dream Unlim-ited, Diamond Corp., and Fram + Slokker.

Bordered on the east by the Old Port Credit Village Heri-tage Conservation District and the more recent Cranberry Cove community on the west, Port Credit West Village will be an urban-style community based on environmental, plan-ning and market use principles, says Harper.

Bringing the project to fruition, however, has and will con-tinue to be a complex venture in terms of the planning, regula-tory approvals, and the construction. It has also required input and support from residents of the two communities and the Port Credit BIA (Business Improvement Area), he says.

The refinery was closed and dismantled three years ago. Imperial Oil, which had acquired the property but never actually operated the refinery, “tried to reposition the prop-erty but didn’t know how to go about that.”

Then, a couple of years ago, the oil giant issued both Requests for Proposals and Requests for Qualifications from parties interested in purchasing and redeveloping the vacant and fenced off property.

Toronto-based Kilmer specializes in the remediation/redevelopment of brownfield sites and had been interested in the refinery site for some time. It organized a team of part-ners which successfully submitted an application and pur-chased the property. That process, though, was very compli-cated and took about 18 months to complete, he says.

“We had to show (Imperial) how we were going to remedi-ate the property and what we going to do with the property.”

A number of municipal approvals including rezoning the land from industrial have to be obtained. Expected to take about two years, the approval process should coincide with the completion of the remediation which would then allow the redevelopment to proceed, says Harper.

Underway since January the remediation is being con-ducted by The Cannington Group. The consultant is Stan-tec. It’s a tightly organized undertaking consisting of visual inspections, soil testing, plus the use of the drones and technology, says Kilmer’s environmental director, Monisha Nandi.

Prior to the sale of the site Imperial Oil conducted exten-sive soil testing and that data, plus new data that Stantec has collected, is all integrated into a GPS-enabled database acces-sible by the its field representatives through iPads.

“It (the research) enables them to identify which areas con-tain impacted soils and which areas contain suitable soil for reuse within the site.”

Specific areas have been identified as having higher con-centrations of soil or groundwater impacts and those are the areas targeted for excavation in the current phase, she explains.

Soils deemed impacted are moved to a designated stag-ing area immediately adjacent a truck route. From there the material is transported to two Walker Industries landfill sites in Niagara Region which have Environmental Compliance Approval from the Ministry of the Environment to accept it as daily cover.

To keep track of the mountain of earth moved a contractor flies drones over the site at least once a week or as required to survey specific work areas. Approximately 800,000 tons of soils are expected to be hauled there during the duration of the remediation, says Nandi.

But the protective measures won’t end there. All the units at Port Credit West Village will have underground parking:

“which create a gap against and residual contaminates.”Port Credit West Village is one component of the City of

Mississauga’s Inspiration Port Credit, a vision plan which also includes the redevelopment of lands a 1 Port Street. Last year the plan won a Brownie Award for Communication, Market-ing and Public Engagement. The awards recognize the reha-bilitation efforts of brownfield sites in Canada.

Along with planned redevelopment for Mississauga’s Lakeview area, the two projects “will transform the city’s water’s edge into a vibrant, sustainable, mixed-use commu-nities,” says planning and building commissioner Andrew Whittemore.

Remediation

Digging smart and rising above in Port Credit refinery lands remediation

THE CANNINGTON GROUP

Remediation work of the former Texaco/Imperial Oil refinery site in the Port Credit area of Mississauga, Ont. is being done in preparation for one of Canada’s largest infill projects on a brownfield site. The site will eventually be transformed into Port Credit West Village, a mixed-use community with commercial space and a 4.8 acre waterfront park.

THE CANNINGTON GROUP

To keep track of the mountains of earth being moved at the massive Texaco/Imperial Oil refinery site, drones are being flown over it, once a week or as required, to survey specific work areas.

“It (the research) enables them to identify which areas contain impacted soils and which areas contain suitable soil for reuse within the site,”Monisha Nandi Kilmer Brownfield Equity Fund


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Oakville residents are cheering on the demolition of the Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. That’s because the shiny new Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial

Hospital opened across town in 2015 and the old site is being redeveloped into a community centre, park and new resi-dential units. However, neighbours have one request: “Quiet, please.”

The city contracted DST Consulting Engineers to cre-ate a “Former Hospital Deconstruction Strategy” which was approved in April 2017. With demolition taking place in an established residential neighbourhood, noise mitiga-tion measures included the installation of quieter broad-band backup alarms.

A typical vibration strategy would involve a video sur-vey of properties within a 30-metre radius of the project. To protect historic homes in the neighbourhood, the video radius was expanded to 75 metres. Six seismographs were also installed to ensure vibration levels remained below 10 mm/s, far lower than the maximum allowable 50mm/s.

The demolition contract covers two buildings, an extended main hospital structure, the three-storey Helen Lawson building and a stack about 175 feet tall.

Structures in the main hospital facility range in height from one to five storeys, plus mechanical rooms and partial basements. The demolition contract, valued at $4,289,000, was awarded to Delsan-AIM, which began work on the site in August 2017.

The demolition company performed asbestos abate-ment using its own crews. Peak crew levels of 25 to 30 workers were reached during the early part of the project, when asbestos abatement, interior stripping, and initial structural demolition overlapped.

“The buildings looked like they were built over perhaps

three periods of construction,” says Carmelo Pastore, dis-trict manager with Delsan-AIM. “Parts of the building are poured concrete and the emergency wing, for example, is made of structural steel.”

Excavators have been making quick work of the build-ing, although the contractor brought in 65-tonne excava-tors with shears to chew through a two-foot-thick con-crete slab underpinning part of the hospital.

The site offers a generous working space, including a large asphalt parking lot used as a staging area. However crews must work carefully around mature trees that will remain on the site.

Rules imposed by the city govern the way the contrac-tor can operate. Work is restricted to weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and vehicles are carefully timed to arrive and leave through specific gates on a predetermined schedule.

“The neighbours had a lot of input into the demolition operation,” says Pastore. “You’re surrounded by a lot of nice houses and you’re aware that you’re working in some-one’s back yard. You’re always aiming to do a good job, but doing it quietly.”

The demolition design also prohibits the use of explo-sives, so the building’s stack won’t receive a 21-gun salute as it drops.

“We’ll chip a bird-mouth notch into the base and let gravity take it down,” says Pastore.

“Just like felling a tree.”Concrete is being crushed on site and will remain there

for use in the new development. Cold weather has occa-sionally sidelined dust-suppressing water cannons, but crew members have filled in, suiting up in thick rubber garments and using hand-held misters.

Steel is being recycled by Delsan-AIM’s parent compa-ny, American Iron and Metals, in Hamilton.

While most residents won’t miss the building, crews have been asked for specific souvenirs.

“A lot of people in the area had children born in the maternity ward,” says Pastore. “Some of them just want a brick for sentimental reasons. One of the residents asked for a sign from the laundry room and we were able to res-cue a hospital clock for another resident.”

While the original schedule estimated a year-long proj-ect, Pastore says that minor permitting delays and changes to the scope of the contract will now see Delsan-Aim fin-ish up in October 2018.

“We’re now starting in on the Helen Lawson building, but from an overall project perspective, we’re winding down,” he says.

Sh!

Working quietly among goals for Oakville hospital demo

WILLIAM CONWAY/PROGRESS PHOTOGRAPHY

To protect historic homes near the demolition of the old Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, six seismographs were installed to ensure vibration levels remained low.


Delsan-AIM began its demolition work of the old Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in August 2017 and antici-pates finishing up in October of this year.


Demolition of the old Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital includes two buildings, an extended main hospital structure, the three-storey Helen Lawson building and a stack about 175 feet tall.

“You’re surrounded by a lot of nice houses and you’re aware that you’re working in someone’s back yard,”Carmelo Pastore Delsan-AIM

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As entrepreneur Ed Mirvish once said, “Only the floors are ‘crooked’ at Hon-est Ed’s.” Those crooked floors have

now been dismantled by the demolition arm of Rafat General Contracting with headquar-ters in Bolton, Ont.

Mirvish first opened an outlet store in downtown Toronto in 1943 and launched Honest Ed’s Bargain House in 1948. He slowly acquired properties until his retail empire stretched a full block along Bloor Street West with the completion of Honest Ed’s Annex along Bathurst Street in 1984. Mirvish died in 2007 and the store closed its doors to customers on the final day of 2016.

The property was purchased by Westbank Corp as part of a mixed use redevelopment that will include parks, residential and retail.

The site was handed over to Rafat fol-lowing the removal of the iconic Honest Ed’s sign facing Markham Street. If all goes well, the 30- by 60-foot sign will eventually be re-installed at the Ed Mirvish Theatre near Yonge and Dundas Streets.

Rafat’s assignment: demolish the remaining buildings and perform interior demolition for the heritage homes along the west end of the property, part of Mir-vish Village that will continue to house businesses following redevelopment. Work on the heritage buildings was performed under the supervision of ERA Architects.

“We were required to perform abate-ment, demolish the buildings, remove the foundations and crush the concrete into large chunks,” says Bashar Mikha, vice-president of construction with Rafat. “The rubble was left on site as we levelled the

edges of the property to hand over to the shoring contractor.”

The perimeter of the building hugged the adjacent sidewalks so Rafat installed significant hoarding around the site. Asbestos abatement began in September 2017 and required 30 workers at the peak of activity. Abatement was completed the following month.

“We were able to use the parking lot at the back of the building as a staging area, for demolition” says Mikha.

“We brought three excavators to the site, a high-reach with metal shears, a concrete crusher and one outfitted with a grapple. We moved from the south tak-ing down buildings until we reached the north face. We had flag-people on site who

would remain on the sidewalks and control pedestrian traffic as we performed work around the perimeter.”

Various parts of the retail complex stood at two and three storeys tall. Materi-als changed as the additions were demol-ished — first structural steel, then concrete and finally wood.

Extreme cold weather hampered the schedule only for a few days as equipment was sidelined to protect the integrity of hydraulic hoses. Cold weather also worked against efforts of the water truck to sup-press dust in the area.

Rafat crews reached the front of the building in January and removed the remaining Honest Ed’s signage as they dis-mantled the wall.

“We had to do this carefully,” says Mikha. “At that point, the giant sign itself was help-ing to keep the facade standing up.”

At the peak of demolition, 17 labourers and operators worked on site.

Mikha says that the demolition job was dif-ferent from any other project he’s worked on.

“We were under constant observation by people in the neighbourhood,” he says.

“There were always people watching, and video cameras rolling at every phase of the project. A lot of people came to us asking for souvenir bricks and we were always happy to hand one over.”

The demolition project gave forth no secrets — except one. For years, passersby had seen the giant metal safe door that claimed to be the entrance to Honest Ed’s office.

“When we pulled it off, there was noth-ing behind it,” says Mikha. “It was just a joke by Ed Mirvish.”

There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace!

No bargains in demo planning of iconic Honest Ed’s

SEAN GALBRAITH

Demolition of Toronto’s iconic bargain outlet store, Honest Ed’s, also required asbestos abatement, foundation removal and interior demolition of the heritage homes along the west end of the store’s property. The store’s famous sign, pictured here, was taken down and is slated for possible re-installation at the Ed Mirvish Theatre.

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