After five full months of construction the MTS Centre is beginning to rise above ground level on schedule and, even more important, on budget.
Much of the preliminary foundation work is now finished. Subterranean Ltd., one of the first sub-trades on the site in February, has now completed the task of placing a total of 498 piles into the ground below the MTS Centre to provide the support to carry the entire weight of the structure once it is complete. Sunterranean installed 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. Each of the large caissons is capable of bearing and supporting 1400 tons of weight.
Concrete work continues to dominate the list of site activities. More than ten million pounds of concrete, which is about 20% of the total concrete in the finished building, has now been poured in place. Another major section of the main concourse floor was poured today at the Portage and Hargrave corner. Almost three quarters of both the concourse floor at street level and the exterior foundation walls are now poured and in place.
Other concrete work includes pouring the nearly completed floor and walls of the 300-foot long tunnel from Carlton Street down to the event level, the forming and pouring of columns, elevator shafts and stairwells from street level up to the suite level concourse height.
In the next two weeks, the remaining temporary ramp along the Donald Street side of the building will be removed to allow the completion of the foundation walls and the permanent ramp/tunnel from Hargrave Street will be finished. By the end of August, the entire main concourse floor will be in place and much of the work activity will be taking place above street level.
[MTS Centre Construction Archive]
