Things are a little slow here right now but there are two big things coming up. Cladding of the podium and that 2 1/2 metre thick transfer slab.

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Every time I see that podium I just can't believe how ENORMOUS this is going to be!
 
That transfer slab will be massive. At 2 1/2m its almost as big as an entire floor!
The only other Toronto project that I can think of that has one about as thick is Maple Leaf Sq, where they used 2,400 cubic yards of concrete on the 11th floor transfer slab. But those are no where near as wide as this one will be, we're talking about maybe 5,000 to 10,000 cubic yards of concrete here. Which I'm sure would easily make it the largest transfer slab in Canada.

For a comparison, the 4 Season's used 4,100 cubic yards of concrete for the buildings foundation. Which is 10,000 tons of concrete poured from more than 100 trucks - the largest concrete pour for a residential building in Toronto (and probably Canada, for a residential building).
 
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For a comparison, the 4 Season's used 4,100 cubic yards of concrete for the buildings foundation. Which is 10,000 tons of concrete poured from more than 100 trucks - the largest concrete pour for a residential building in Toronto (and probably Canada by default).
Non-residential, but The Bow in Calgary was more than quadruple that with ~18,000 cubic yards (13,778 cubic metres).
 
Speaking of transfer slabs, here's a recent post on Aura's Blog:


http://auracondos.blogspot.com/2011/09/most-important-floor-at-aura.html

The Most Important Floor at Aura

Construction workers at Aura have been working diligently these last several weeks of summer in preparation to pour the 5th floor. Usually, it takes a couple of weeks of installation and pouring of concrete for a large retail podium floor plate. In Aura's case it is taking a bit more time and here's why....

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The 5th floor at Aura is the most important structural floor of the entire building since it transfers the loads from the 71 storeys of residential floors above through to the foundations.

Seen above, significant quantities of rebar (rods or bars used for reinforcement in concrete pouring) and post-tensioned tendons are required for this 2500 mm thick transfer slab (the 5th floor) along with detailed coordination and installation between several trade workers. This enormous task has taken the better part of the summer months to complete.

This 5th floor transfer slab is being poured in sections and the first two sections were completed at the end of August. The remaining section is being prepared and the entire 5th floor slab will be completed within a few weeks, after which you’ll see Aura continue to grow quickly during the fall.

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The 5th floor at Aura is the most important structural floor of the entire building since it transfers the loads from the 71 storeys of residential floors above through to the foundations.
71+5 (thinks really hard) Ok so wait...does this mean the height increase has been approved?
 
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Here is the most recent photo of the 5th floor. As you can see the shape of the tower is being outlined. I think it will be about a floor every 10days. dont expect more than 1 crane to be working once the podium is done. Also, the Business Improvement Area Downtown Yonge had a meeting today. Discussed items: New subway entrance, new developments on Grenville, and the future redevelopment of Yonge from Gerrard St to Dundas West. The BIA is focusing on getting big name retailers into this area, when new projects go up. This may be sad news for some of people who enjoy the "culture" but some test studies will be done with temporarily shutting down parts of yonge Street to create a sort of NYC times square feel. They want to focus on increasing pedestrain traffic as currently the ratio is 72% pedestrians vs 28% vehicle. Plans are to expand side walks, only have 2 lanes for vehicle traffic, including seating. Another thing mentioned is that over the last 5years this area has double in size of population :) love it. More people the better, creating self sustaining communities like in Manhattan.
 
^^^ that plan sounds fantastic, but has it cleared Rob Ford's desk yet? that would clearly be part of the "war on cars" which he is trying to put an end to... (statistics be damned)
 
Nice to finally see the webcam back up, I was starting to worry it was gone for good. Looks like they've got the first half of the transfer slab poured, and the second half looks like its all formed up and ready to go.
 

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