Aecon Buildings

New lease on life┬áItÔÇÖs taken a long time to get around to it, but a major development is expected to breathe new life into downtown Toronto, as Alan T Swaby learns. ThereÔÇÖs a degree of controversy about TorontoÔÇÖs development plans, with some voices critical about the progress achieved toward integrating the harbor area with downtown Toronto. But on a stretch of lakefront land directly opposite the Toronto Islands, a new eight-story building is rising that might change everyoneÔÇÖs views and the overall rate of progress.TEDCO is the Toronto Economic Development Company, a self-financing corporation owned by the City. ItÔÇÖs tasked with generating new high-quality jobs and increasing industrial and commercial investment in the City of Toronto. TEDCOÔÇÖs Corus Building is the first rejuvenation project for this part of the city, and once complete in spring of next year, it will bring to the area 1,200 new, highly paid workers from the world of TV production, anxious to trade with local businesses.Corus Entertainment is one of CanadaÔÇÖs leading broadcasters, owning both TV and radio stations and making many of the countryÔÇÖs most popular TV programsÔÇöparticularly those aimed at a younger audience. Its pending move to the new bayfront building will enable it to consolidate staff currently spread throughout the city in 11 different locations.Responsibility for building this important, high-profile building has been given to another of CanadaÔÇÖs leading organizations. The Aecon name per se is less than a decade old, but the roots of this multifaceted business go back a hundred years. Some of the best-known structures in the country have been built by Aecon, from the Calvary Olympic Oval to the CN Tower. With last reported revenue at just under $1.5 billion, itÔÇÖs the largest publicly traded construction and infrastructure development company in Canada.Over the years, Aecon has diversified and adapted to an amazing degree to encompass just about every aspect of manufacturing and production, designing, building, operating and financing anything from a road to a nuclear plant.The Aecon Buildings division dates back to 1913 as the Jackson-Lewis Company. Since then it has grown to become one of OntarioÔÇÖs top three or four general contractors in the building construction sector. It has been involved with some of the most innovative and unique structures in the country, and most recently, some of the ecologically designed, thanks to the LEED certification projects it has built and its adherence to green construction in general.In years gone by, the East Bay area at the bottom of Jarvis Street was a thriving industrial center. Today the only industry left is a small sugar refinery that hangs on, surrounded by abandoned warehouses and deserted derricks. For 30 years the land has largely been unused, yet it is surrounded by some of the most prized real estate in the city.With a century of industrial use behind it, not surprisingly the site was badly contaminated. ÔÇ£In addition to large quantities of spent, burnt coal,ÔÇØ says Jamie Robertson, project manager for Aecon Buildings, ÔÇ£there was a mixed bag of other toxic materials, and considerable care had to be taken by construction workers clearing the site.ÔÇØ┬á The top meter of soil from the site was excavated and treated with an OxyTech solution to neutralize contaminants. The waste could have been dumped directly, without treatment, at a government-designated landfill site for contaminated material, but treating it first turned out to be a more economical alternative, as it meant that the soil could go to any site willing to take it. Clean infill material, trucked into the site, effectively capped whatever contaminants remained in the soil.The second problem with which the site had to contend was water. ÔÇ£This part of the city was built on reclaimed land,ÔÇØ explains Robertson, ÔÇ£similar to BostonÔÇÖs Back Bay in the 1860s. The dock retaining wall is over 50 years old and quite fragile. A combination of high water table and contaminated land led to some unusual engineering solutions.ÔÇØThe building itself will have a half million square feet of office space and another 70,000 square feet of parking on a single level. With foundations going 10 feet below the water table level, the whole underside of the structure was treated with Suprema waterproofing system, making the bottom of the building an enormous bathtub in reverse.Once those problems had been dealt with, Robertson describes the project as fairly routine, though the building does have one or two surprises. TEDCO is aiming to win LEED Gold certification for its building. Most of the qualifying points are coming from the use of local content and the extent of waste recycling. However, the air intake for the HVAC system is through a ÔÇ£bio wall,ÔÇØ contributing both aesthetically and functionally to the building.Attached to the concrete wall along one face of the six-story atrium located at the center of the building are layers of a porous material made from loosely woven plastic. Plants are plugged into gaps cut into the top layer of material and held in place by their roots, which grow downward between the layers.Water is pumped to the top of the wall and allowed to run between the layers. Nutrients can be added, both watering and feeding the plants, which in turn act as a natural filter for dust particles and volatile organic compounds often emitted by manmade materials.Although there will be one small live transmission studio at the building, most of the TV creative work will be the production of the animated shows Corus is famous for. As such, the building doesnÔÇÖt need anything out of the ordinary in the way of headroom, but it will feature extensive soundproofing for the many radio stations that will be based there.TEDCO in particular is hoping that the Corus Building will spread the news that this part of Toronto is well and truly open for business. ÔÇô Editorial research by Jim Rose┬á