No, there's a bit of skill involved, which the installers lack. Basic lesson from Curtainwall 101 is that you need to have the frames hanging plumb when you install them, or else it's physically impossible to get the interlocks to snap. You can see how they've rigged it that they're way off centre which in turn caused the frame to lean far forward which in turn led to seven grown men fumbling like a bunch of children to force the frame into position. But when you refuse to pay the going rate for labour that's the kind of work you get.

It drives me crazy because that's exactly the sort of thing that gets people hurt, too. It's just asking for someone to slip or get pinched or crushed or worse.

While I am uncertain of your credentials regarding curtain wall installation, I will bow to your conviction that you are correct under normal circumstances... However... How many installation crews have had experience installing curved AND canted curtain wall in the last building cycle?

That particular section is not only curved horizontally, but it is angled inwards as well, creating a special challenge for suspending it by its center of gravity as opposed to its angle of final resting.

Just a thought before too many other armchair engineers chortle at their presumed incompetence.
 
Sounds reasonable to me as well. While its not ideal (for safety reasons) a lot of expertise is learned on site. Once these guys have installed a few floors they'll probably qualify as highly skilled. I imagine the first few floors are always dicey as people get acquainted with a particuklar building's idiosyncracies.
 
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Sounds reasonable to me as well. While its not ideal (for safety reasons) a lot of expertise is learned on site. Once these guys have installed a few floors they'll probably qualify as highly skilled. I imagine the first few floors are always dicey as people get acquainted with a particuklar building's idiosyncracies.

Hopefully they become highly skilled and experts before they start installing the glass on higher floors, especially when they get 70+ stories up.
 
Original plans showed the second floor being completely concrete, similar to 3rd floor above, sometime early 2013 (April/May) the 2nd floor was revised to future installed steel framing floor, with concrete/composite steel deck on top to match 2nd floor beyond. There will be openings in this area for an escalator and small stair.

I suspect that the switch to a steel structure for the 2nd floor allows more flexibility in case a prominent retail tenant wants to configure the space in a specific way (maybe even omitting part or all of the second floor?).
 
I suspect that the switch to a steel structure for the 2nd floor allows more flexibility in case a prominent retail tenant wants to configure the space in a specific way (maybe even omitting part or all of the second floor?).

Agreed, doing this allowed them to decide now or in the near future instead of early 2013 how to configure the escalator/floor layout (or lack there of possibly?) for the "main" retail unit on the corner of Yonge and Bloor. (who knows even at this point if they have even confirmed a company/retailer to rent that corner unit as no info has been released that I know of, anyone else have any idea?)
 
Some of us certainly have ideas. I'm tending towards a company that never says anything about their new stores until about two months after it's so obvious that they are opening there that it's already understood by the locals. The big, black, featureless hoarding (in malls at least) is the usual tipoff. The very fact that there has been no announcement about this space yet can also be seen as evidence that it's them.

DW, do you know if GG is planning to open the podium retail before the tower is fully finished à la Aura? I know this will be a much faster build than Aura, so maybe they won't go to the expense of making the podium area secure from falling debris… that's my guess anyway.

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Be great if someone could set up a live webcam.
On the last tower pic, are we looking at the 9th/10th floor?
 
Be great if someone could set up a live webcam.
On the last tower pic, are we looking at the 9th/10th floor?

They are preparing the 9th floor for pouring.

The newly built truss panels being used for the tower are a new style of product created specifically for this project and they are being checked to ensure they were built correctly before they start using them, once this happens the tower floors will begin to be poured. Slow start but that will change soon.
 
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Some of us certainly have ideas. I'm tending towards a company that never says anything about their new stores until about two months after it's so obvious that they are opening there that it's already understood by the locals. The big, black, featureless hoarding (in malls at least) is the usual tipoff. The very fact that there has been no announcement about this space yet can also be seen as evidence that it's them.

DW, do you know if GG is planning to open the podium retail before the tower is fully finished à la Aura? I know this will be a much faster build than Aura, so maybe they won't go to the expense of making the podium area secure from falling debris… that's my guess anyway.

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I believe early occupancy of retail isn't planned until after 44th floor of the tower has been poured, I believe this is due to installing the low lift elevator which cant happen till after the 44th is poured, and also they will need to create a temporary roof at one of the floors to follow OBC code.
 
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Some photos from today, removing of some of the large panels from the podium floors
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Maybe Samsung is opening a store here? Or will they take the space at 1 Bloor West--I heard a rumour it's gonna be tall, launching in 2015 (or at least announced on City of Toronto website then.)

It would have to sell and/or be consolidated first I would think.
 
Maybe Samsung is opening a store here? Or will they take the space at 1 Bloor West--I heard a rumour it's gonna be tall, launching in 2015 (or at least announced on City of Toronto website then.)

Is this the site just across the street that has Sunrise Records? Wasn't there an article in a local paper a while back saying that this site was planned to be huge in square footage? How tall can they go there?
 

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