The demolition of the old Eaton’s department store building moved ahead this week with the removal of the rubble from sections of the eighth floor exterior walls and more activity in what was formerly known as “the annex”.
The drilling of the excavations for the piles to be placed under the Cityplace walkway bridge on the north side of Graham to support the structure of the bridge was completed to a depth of thirty feet. Concrete will be poured next week. The steel supports will arrive in two to three weeks time to complete this task. Most of the existing bridge will be re-used to connect the downtown walkway system through the MTS Centre to Cityplace when the entertainment centre opens in 2004.
The exterior cladding of the annex building along all three sides - Donald Street, Graham Ave and Hargrave Street - was removed. The demolition of the remaining steel frame and concrete slab construction of the annex will take place once the supports are installed under the cityplace walkway bridge.
Many tones of structural steel and scrap metal are being sorted on the site and salvaged for recycling as the building comes down.
The Manitoba Public Insurance website (www.mpi.mb.ca) features a web cam view of the site looking north from MPI offices in the Cityplace building. Shaw Cable (cable channel 11) features a view of the Portage Avenue side of the site from a live camera positioned on Air Canada Building.
[MTS Centre Construction Demolition Archive]
