November 15, 2006

GREENSPOON

Inn on the Park's demolition posed some unique challenges as a portion of the property remained open and various parts of the hotel had to be saved for future use.

Finding Solutions

Partial demos create unique challenges

Wood, concrete hotel equipment sent to recycler

DAN O’REILLY

correspondent

When only partial demolition was required at Toronto landmark hotel Inn on the Park, Greenspoon Specialty Contracting had to look for unique solutions to preserve segments of the building which remained open.

“We didn’t want to use a wrecking ball because it would have sprayed concrete all over the site and possibly caused damage to those areas of the inn that remain open,” says Chito Valdez, project manager with Greenspoon Specialty Contracting, a Brampton-based contractor.

"We literally built a mountain from the rubble and then placed an excavator with a hoe ram on top of that rubble."

Chito Valdez

Project Manager

Taking down the west arm was fairly straightforward, but knocking down the east wing proved to be more challenging.

It was structurally linked to a two-storey building to the north that’s been left intact. A two-bay separation was created by hoisting an excavator to the top floor and then subsequently placing it on the floors below as the ones above were demolished.

Concerns were overcome by tearing down the higher floors with a horseshoe guillotine. This is the first time Greenspoon used the equipment, which demolishes buildings vertically rather than horizontally.

As the higher floors were removed and the structure came closer to the ground, it was safe enough to bring the traditional wrecking ball back, says Valdez.

By the end of November, demolition of most of the 300,000-square-foot west wing and the 100,000-square-foot east section of the hotel will be completed, says Valdez.

A courtyard, ballroom, one tower and a few shops will remain intact.

Greenspoon has been on site since the spring of 2005 when asbestos removal under abatement Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 procedures got under way.

That work lasted until October 2005 and was followed by several months of interior demolition and the sorting of recyclable materials including wood, concrete and hotel equipment, says Valdez.

Working in a north south direction on the two stage demolition, Greenspoon took down the west wing and then shifted to the east wing.

In addition to other demolition challenges, sequencing was necessary because there is a life safety room at the juncture of where the two wings connect.

For the time being, the room is being preserved because it provides fire and other emergency services to the areas of the hotel that won’t be demolished, says Valdez.

One of the last major operations was the removal of a 100-foot-high elevator shaft, which was about two storeys higher than the east wing.

“We literally built a mountain from the rubble and then placed an excavator with a hoe ram on top of that rubble.”

A major component of the project was the attention paid to recycling.

“We salvaged a lot of materials,” says Valdez, specifically referring to approximately 25 metric tonnes of concrete that were crushed on site for use in the new foundation’s development.

Considered an innovative structure when it was built in the early 1960s, the Inn on the Park at Leslie and Eglinton is being removed to make way for a car dealership and a mixed use residential/commercial development.

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