The foundation for True North will soon sit on 498 piles that are now being installed by Subterranean Ltd. as the first major phase of the construction of the Sports and Entertainment Centre continues.
The piles are being placed to an average depth of 36 feet into the ground below the building and are anchored a further four and a half feet into the bedrock. More than 40 of the 221 caissons have now been drilled and poured. The deepest drill hole to date reaches a depth almost 60 feet below what will become the event level floor.
When this stage of the foundation work is complete, there will be a total of 277 driven pre-cast piles – 153 of them under the event and ice floor alone – and 221 cast-in-place caissons. The caissons are larger than the pre-cast piles and vary in diameter from 36 inches to 72 inches. They consist of concrete poured right at the site into a steel cylinder sleeve that extends down into the bedrock. The steel sleeve is removed after the concrete sets. Each of the large caissons is capable of bearing and supporting 1400 tons of weight.
The excavation continues to be enlarged. Along the west perimeter of the site, the removal of the pavement and cement base of part of Hargrave Street is in progress. Excavators have also completely dug out seven to ten feet of earth from across the bottom of approximately half of the entire site - down to the level of what will become the future entertainment centre event floor.
While work is progressing steadily, the next dramatic activity will be the arrival in late April of the first of four large tower cranes to be erected at the construction site and the start of work on excavation for the 300-foot long ramp or tunnel which will start on Carlton Street and slope down under Hargrave Street to provide service access to the entertainment centre event floor.
[MTS Centre Construction Archive]
