The demolition of the structures on the old Eaton’s department store site on Portage Avenue passed the 25% complete milestone this week. A demolition project of this size and scope requires a great deal of preparation work. Now that most of the time consuming and labour intensive preparation activity is complete, the process of taking down the structure will pick up speed.
The last remaining rooftop “penthouse” – actually the housing for the shafts and mechanical equipment to operate the old passenger elevators - is expected to be removed over the next three or four days. It stands sixty feet above the Portage Avenue roofline of the Eaton’s building and is being taken apart manually as a safety precaution. The final sections of cornice and the wall above the eighth floor of the building along Portage Avenue will be demolished after the penthouse is removed.
The steel supports under the Cityplace skywalk connection on the True North side of Graham Avenue are now in place. This clears the way for the demolition of the remaining steel frame and concrete slab construction of the annex to begin next week. The Cityplace bridge is being saved and will be rejoined to the new entertainment centre in the future.
Subterranean (Manitoba) Limited joined the team of contractors working on the site and started the task of placing the shoring along Donald Street. Caissons are being drilled for a series of steel and concrete piles to be placed to a depth of 28 feet below ground level. The shoring will prevent damage to the streets around the site during the excavation that will follow demolition of the building. The shoring project next moves around to Portage Avenue and, when completed, will protect the streets on all four sides of the building.
Consult the True North website (www.truenorthproject.mb.ca) for up to date still photographs of the demolition activity. The Shaw Cable camera (Channel 11), which looks at the Portage Avenue face of Eaton’s, will document the dramatic increase in activity on this side of the building over the coming week.
[MTS Centre Construction Demolition Archive]
