Saskatoon | Baydo Towers | 80m - 80m | 25-25 Floors | U/C

[Roquentin]

Originally Posted by Crisis

That explanation from Reddit sounds to me like someone just having some fun at the expense of others. Time will tell, but most of the Reddit discussion sounds ludicrous.

This is how I read that exchange as well (i.e. as a joke). Time will tell, as you say.

[Crisis]

This entire excavation & shoring operation has been just so odd from the beginning. Based on the photo posted on Reddit, it's clear that there are a few upstands poured on top of the raft slab and lots of vertical dowels for future walls within what appears to be the building core.

As to what happens next, that's yet to be seen and hopefully roryn1 can keep updating us with photos as this "unique" project continues, but here's my guess:

The raft slab that has been poured will be covered in dirt to allow heavy equipment to operate down there without damaging the concrete construction. The structural steel members braced back to the raft slab will stay in place while excavation and additional shoring continues around the perimeter of the hole. When the rest of the excavation & shoring is complete, the dirt over the raft slab will be removed, the structural steel angle braces will be removed and the vertical construction of the core will commence.

Anyone else have a prediction as to what's going to happen? Other than the Danish counterweight theory, that is.

[Roquentin]

Originally Posted by Crisis

This entire excavation & shoring operation has been just so odd from the beginning. Based on the photo posted on Reddit, it's clear that there are a few upstands poured on top of the raft slab and lots of vertical dowels for future walls within what appears to be the building core.

As to what happens next, that's yet to be seen and hopefully roryn1 can keep updating us with photos as this "unique" project continues, but here's my guess:

The raft slab that has been poured will be covered in dirt to allow heavy equipment to operate down there without damaging the concrete construction. The structural steel members braced back to the raft slab will stay in place while excavation and additional shoring continues around the perimeter of the hole. When the rest of the excavation & shoring is complete, the dirt over the raft slab will be removed, the structural steel angle braces will be removed and the vertical construction of the core will commence.

Anyone else have a prediction as to what's going to happen? Other than the Danish counterweight theory, that is.

That all sounds logical. I'd imagine too that their progress with the excavation/shoring has been so slow because they're waiting to use the crane from the Broadway apartments?

[roryn1]

Seems like it. Most manpower is still at Broadway I think, waiting for the crane..

[zeebra]

Any photo updates? I'm curious what is going on with that funky foundation

[Roquentin]

Originally Posted by zeebra

Any photo updates? I'm curious what is going on with that funky foundation

A Reddit thread popped up today with some photos:

https://www.reddit.com/r/saskatoon/comments/nn2j89/update_on_project_at_25th_5th/

[zeebra]

Strange, bet the geotech is getting sued if it actually is caving in.

[roryn1]

I don’t see any caving in and only saw water after the rain which is now gone. Seems like they’re waiting for the crain as they’ve just been slowly pulling dirt on the sides over the initial slab. I’m sticking with my theory on the denmark engineering process.

Those reddit posters seem to be coming from the Park Avenue building that’s experiencing the worst of the construction. I feel so bad for them experiencing this construction as the experience of the Piling last summer/fall was so blech for even myself a block away with the ground tremors. I used to live there and since it’s all mostly older folks, they are definitely %#£€* about the construction - there was also some loons in that building that would love to stir drama haha

[Ricopedra]

edit

[Crisis]

I was for a walk in the vicinity of this project today, so went to the north end of the excavation to take a look into the hole and snap a photo. So the photo below is from the opposite end of the hole than those posted by roryn1.

The raft slab that had been poured is now completely buried and it would certainly appear that the deepest part of the hole is being backfilled and compacted, judging by the roller compactor and the pair of plate tampers sitting there. I'd first thought that it had changed quite a bit from the previous photo from roryn1, but now that I compare the two shots, all that's really happened in that the raft slab is now buried. The excavator in my photo is sitting on a clearly defined bench along the east side of the excavation. It's tough to tell from roryn1's last photo if then bench had been there at that point. Not sure of any significance to that.

There was no activity on site today, so I really don't know what 's going on down there but will be curious to keep tabs on things.

[YXE]

We definitely could use some insight, here.

[zeebra]

Maybe a slab underneath the parking garage, to capture some of the fill above for additional ballast against overturning. Potentially because they aren't making a large ug garage?

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by zeebra

Maybe a slab underneath the parking garage, to capture some of the fill above for additional ballast against overturning. Potentially because they aren't making a large ug garage?

Basically this as noted before. Main reason it’s dragging on is because the crane is still at broadway for another month or so to finish up the facade / seems like something procurement wise is delayed? There has been people on the site but overall doesn’t seem like they’re scrambling or reinforcing if there were an issue. Maybe digging went by faster than they planned.

[Ricopedra]

edit

[mitchellk12]

Originally Posted by roryn1

Basically this as noted before. Main reason it’s dragging on is because the crane is still at broadway for another month or so to finish up the facade / seems like something procurement wise is delayed? There has been people on the site but overall doesn’t seem like they’re scrambling or reinforcing if there were an issue. Maybe digging went by faster than they planned.

I dont think one crane will be used, I can see 2 being used , considering they needed 2 for river landing . I could be wrong though

[roryn1]

Started pouring concrete again! I assume this is for the crane base

[roryn1]

Despite my lack of photo updates a lot is happening on site and seems to be ramping up. There’s been more concrete pours and bracing - seems like they’ve moved past the initial slab and on to further bracing the southern side of the development. I sure can’t tell what they’re doing but they’re doing stuff! If there were any structural issues it might have been the east wall - I see that it’s fairly uneven, but it also has never been fully braced. This all seems to go back to the insane trouble they were having with sheet piling last summer (back when they were violently shaking my building and all of the ones around us with harsh vibrations). I bet they could have done that process more efficiently and they wouldn’t be running into the issues they’re having now - maybe they needed a more powerful sheet piler. Lessons learned I guess for the next big downtown Baydo project!

[roryn1]

Project took the week off with the hot weather but things seem to be ramping up again. Looks like they might be re-digging the spot for the crane as they’re digging above the concrete where I thought it was going to go… I could be wrong though. They’re definitely dragging their feet as if they’re waiting for the crane.

Balconies are going up on the Broadway project so the crane should be getting moved over soon. Balconies on that project are tiny - but this tower project has massive balconies compared to anything we’ve seen downtown before - much larger than No1 RL’s tiny balconies. Stone has also gone up on the facade of that project which greatly enhances the quality look of it.

I read that they’re doing the towers one by one, so maybe it is just a one crane project.

[roryn1]

seems like they are fully filling in the pit to where they dug the two underground floors, which would verify that cantilever approach to building taller buildings. Will post a pic in ~week to show progress. There’s still nothing much new worth posting.

[roryn1]

Lots of work happening this week bringing back infill, and more bracing getting installed.