[New Westminster] Riversky | 33fl & 28fl | Completed

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

I'm curious what building was on that exact site before the 80's. There's basically nothing older then 30 years on the Quay

There was loads of industrial along the waterfront for decades in New Westminster. On the other side of River Market where Pier Park is now, they were delayed by a "toxic blob" because the site was previously used for "coal storage warehouses, industrial equipment operations, industrial machine shops, marine works, foundries or metal scrap melting, coal-fired power generation, marine and automobile fuelling and land filling".

Not only that, before the fire in 1898 the waterfront was originally just north of where Front Street currently is. A lot of the land between Front Street and the river is "reclaimed", and the first level of it was the debris from the fire, which probably wasn't the cleanest. Couple that with all of the industry that happened along the waterfront since then, and the lax standards of the time, it's no wonder that they're finding more contamination.

[CanSpice]

This story doesn't mention any contamination other than water, wood piles, and fish.

[Sheba]

You can see it from the Skytrain now. I didn't have a chance to wander by it today to get a closer look. The overpass will be great for taking pictures.

Matino said testing was done via boreholes on the site prior to construction, but it didn't detect any wood pilings so the developer had "no idea" they were buried underground.

"The quantity was shocking. The whole site had wood piles," Matino said. "They were everywhere."

Matino said the site should have been excavated by January, but site conditions have put the project about four months behind schedule.

...

Thirty-foot-long wood piles on the east half of the site are now being exposed and must be removed. About 500 new steel piles filled with concrete, ranging from 60 to 90 feet in length, will be driven into the site to provide structural stability for the development.

Pile driving was expected to begin at the end of May but was delayed by "de-watering" requirements at the site. Area residents can expect to hear a lot of banging as pile driving will last about four months.

After the piles are installed on the site, crews will pour reinforced concrete into the pit. Once the vertical walls are in place around the site, they'll be waterproofed and construction can begin.

"We plan to erect a crane in the middle of July to start work on the foundations," Matino said. "It will take until February when we are at Level 6, where we start pouring concrete for the actual towers themselves."

http://www.newwestrecord.ca/news/new...oper-1.2268301

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

I'm curious what building was on that exact site before the 80's. There's basically nothing older then 30 years on the Quay

Pics here - Pacific Coast Terminals?
River came almost to Columbia St.

http://vintageairphotos.com/tag/new-westminster/

[officedweller]

There's a webcam for RiverSky - this'll be a nice one to watch.

http://tld-riversky.com/slideshow.htm


http://tld-riversky.com/slideshow.htm

[officedweller]

Still pile driving - webcam pic from today (JUly 19th).
The post above updates with the webcam.


http://tld-riversky.com/slideshow.htm

[clee7903]

Does anyone know how long these pile driving takes? Is it because it's near water that this needs to be done?

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Still pile driving - webcam pic from today (JUly 19th).
The post above updates with the webcam.

Thanks for that, i missed your post on the 23rd. I wish the INN on the quay would do a facade revamp to match it's sharp interior, it's surprisingly modern inside for an older suburban hotel. If they just replaced or covered the pink porcelain tiles on the front and removed the superficial fake blue roof peaks, i thought they were part of the structure until i saw this webcam view, they're just sitting on the roof. Scrap 'em.


I want that teal chaise.
from: http://www.innatwestminsterquay.com/photo-gallery.html

[officedweller]

Pile driving a nuisance for residents, businesses
http://www.newwestrecord.ca/news/pil...sses-1.2337738

... of course, having the buildings collapse in an earthquake would be a bigger nuisance for the neighbours.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Pile driving a nuisance for residents, businesses
http://www.newwestrecord.ca/news/pil...sses-1.2337738

... of course, having the buildings collapse in an earthquake would be a bigger nuisance for the neighbours.

I lived in Coal Harbour for seven years during the height of the building (pile driving) boom in the mid-ish to late 90s to early 2000s. I can both emphasize and sympathize with the neighbours.

Yup. Pile driving sucks.

[Marshal]

Originally Posted by clee7903

Does anyone know how long these pile driving takes? Is it because it's near water that this needs to be done?

The time required is just a function of how hard it is to push them (how many hammer strokes) and how many are needed. Typically in this kind of scenario, with soft soils, each pile is driven in quite quickly. So, what takes the time is simply the large number required. This situation is compounded because there are two projects doing this same thing at the same time. They did this with the new convention centre, with much larger diameter piles, hundreds of them, and it took months. Its a very unfortunate necessity.

The piles are required because the bearing capacity of the soils beneath are not 'solid' enough for the weight of the structure. This can be the case under many different conditions, but here, it is because these deposits from the river make up a poor load capacity. (I do not know if they are complicated further by man placed fill of some description)

The piles are doing two things: acting as friction piles (push anything down into the earth and eventually enough friction between it and the earth will develop so that you cannot push it any further - thus providing support). The second thing is that the piles act together in their grid formation to compact the soils between the piles - this increases the load capacity. Whenever you see relatively small diameter piles being placed in a tight formation, this is what they are doing. Across the tracks, the 4th tower of NWStation project is an excellent example of small diameter piles in a very tight spacing. (This is the second project I referred to)

[Sheba]

I head down to New West weekly and the noise of the pile driving is loud and annoying. It reminds me of the saying about how we can know something is important, have to do it, etc - that doesn't mean we have to like it.

[CanSpice]

In a letter to the New West newspaper I saw a reference to "non-percussive pile driving". Is this a thing? How much more would it cost to do this for a build this size, and what impacts (ha!) would it have on construction length?

[mcminsen]

I got these pics back on Labour Day.



Sept.5 '16, my pics

[officedweller]

Shared parking access?

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Shared parking access?

Looks like it, I'm looking forward to this going up!

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

In a letter to the New West newspaper I saw a reference to "non-percussive pile driving". Is this a thing? How much more would it cost to do this for a build this size, and what impacts (ha!) would it have on construction length?

Yes, this is a technique using extremely powerful vibration to inch the piles down into the soil, as opposed to the traditional brute force drop-a-weight-from-a-great-height method of pile-driving.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Yes, this is a technique using extremely powerful vibration to inch the piles down into the soil, as opposed to the traditional brute force drop-a-weight-from-a-great-height method of pile-driving.

Which process is faster? The vibration method doesn't seem like it should have much of a cost difference.

[officedweller]

On a related note .. yikes!

SF’s landmark tower for rich and famous is sinking and tilting

...
However, since its completion in 2008, the 58-story building has sunk 16 inches, according to an independent consultant hired to monitor the problem. It has also tilted 2 inches to the northwest.
...
The Millennium’s engineers anchored the building over a thick concrete slab with piles driven roughly 80 feet into dense sand. “To cut costs, Millennium did not drill piles to bedrock,” or 200 feet down, the transit center authority said in its statement. Had it done so, the agency said, “the tower would not be tilting today.”

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/a...is-8896563.php

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by officedweller

On a related note .. yikes!

SF’s landmark tower for rich and famous is sinking and tilting
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/a...is-8896563.php

Yeesh! Hopefully we don't have this same problem here. That tower is a single 58 storey box; all floorplates built right to the sidewalk (plus a small accompanying building next to it). The Riversky towers i'm guessing are of similar combined square footage but spread out over a larger area and both sitting on a podium.


from: https://www.sanfranciscocondomania.c...300&h=350&zc=0