b'TORONTOS NEW CIBC SQUARE HAS CHALLENGES ONLY STEEL CAN SOLVENothing is standard about this project meant to change everything about office buildingsBy Derek Howchin,Senior Project Manager, Walters Group and Jessica Ranalli, Project Manager,Walters GroupHEAD DOWN THEGardiner Expressway in Toronto and you cant miss the towering structure next to Scotiabank Arena: CIBC SQUARE.ItsthemostadvancedtowereverconstructedinCanadaandlikely all of North America. It has been planned for more than seven years, with construction challenges that rival anything previously built in Canada. Yet the tower is just one part of this extremely complex project, which also includes a pedestrian bridge to the neighbouring arena and a one-acre park being built over the second-busiest railway station in North America. Added to all this is a second tower, which will begin construction this summer.The first tower, 81 Bay Street, is currently under construction and will have 49 occupied stories upon completion this fall. Its twin will be 141 Bay Street (site of the current GO bus terminal), which will consist of 50 occupied stories, scheduled for occupation in 2024. Together, the towers will add three million square feet of space to downtown Toronto. GETTING WITH THE PLANRealestatefirmsIvanhoCambridgeandHinesbeganworkonthe project over 10 years ago with architect Adamson Associates, resulting in a stunning design built to meet several criteria: efficient use of space, speed of construction, design-forward features, connections to transportation and innovations in environmental sustainability.We chose a hybrid structure with a concrete core and structural steel, primarily for speed, says John Frank, Senior Vice President (Construction) for Hines. With steel, a building can be completed six to eight months faster.It was in April of 2017 that CIBC chose the building to be the home of their new Canadian head office. In that same timeframe, Canadian steel icon Walters Group Inc. was brought on to work with EllisDon, the general contractor. Walters was able to provide the engineering expertise and best practices and assist us with the design, as we knew it would evolve over the course of this project, says Andrea Quadrini, Project Manager for EllisDon.The projects many challenges resulted in solutions that only steel could solve. With a location in one of the busiest parts of Canada, construction needed to be fast and design changes would be coming quickly, so steel was chosen to be more easily reconfigured to accommodate the changes. The building design included floor plates that were designed with access to natural daylight and column-free floor plates, so steel was needed to span large, open spaces. Steel was also found to be the best support for glass and retain its durability over time. RJC Engineers understood early on that steel would be best for this project. It made economic sense to go with steel, says Andrew Voth, RJC Engineers Engineer on Record for the pedestrian bridge and rail corridor overbuild.ADVANTAGE STEEL SUMMER 2020|21'