BCE Place: Heritage Square and Galleria

Toronto, Ontario

Santiago Calatrava Architect

Construction: Heritage Square

Canron had a 300 ton crawler crane and wished to use it to maximize the size of the elements and minimize welding on site. Shop welding provides a more environmentally controlled workplace with easier access that results in a better finished product.

The floor of the project site was the roof over a commercial floor which had three parking floors below it. The weight of the crane could not be put directly on the floor.

Canron designed a platform to carry the crane and transfer the load to the column capitals. This approach was used for both Heritage Square and the Galleria. The platform acted as fall protection, eliminated a forest of scaffolding, allowed for bolting, welding, painting and inspection, and, allowed for access for moving materials and equipment below.

The Heritage Square structure was broken down into repeatable sub-sections and then put together in column sections. Three column types were created:
- corner columns
- wall columns
- interior 4 way columns

The latter section proved to be the optimum sized section and could just barely be turned in the shop and clear the door. These enormous sections were shipped at 3 o'clock in the morning to avoid traffic and facilitate access to the site.

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