Saskatoon | Baydo Towers | ??m - ??m | 25-25 Floors | U/C

[The Bess]

rroyn1, I for one appreciate the posts you give whether I like the project or not at least you are showing construction happening in toon. There will always be people who have to post negative things or direct personal attacks at people, so just know there are people here that support your posts. I ignore the attack ones and the people that support them. You have a great view of the site and the pictures are appreciated. Thanks

[WinCitySparky]

Anyone who bills themselves with the label “King” has zero credibility anywhere, rule 1.

[GreenCanoe]

I greatly appreciate the pictures. My three year old loves that crane. It's a crane and it's green. After I show him the latest update I hear "more green crane, please daddy".

I do have a question though. I see a few excavators in the hole, but not much of a way to get the dirt out. Are they lifting the dirt out with the crane or what. That seems quite inefficient with how much more dirt it looks like needs to be excavated yet.

[Crisis]

Originally Posted by GreenCanoe

I do have a question though. I see a few excavators in the hole, but not much of a way to get the dirt out. Are they lifting the dirt out with the crane or what. That seems quite inefficient with how much more dirt it looks like needs to be excavated yet.

I was going to sarcastically ask if you're new here, but then I see that you actually are new here, so welcome aboard!

If you take a read through this thread from when they start the shoring & excavation process, you'll see that there are a number of us that are baffled by their construction process here. Among one of the most "interesting" activities was the pouring a large raft slab in the middle of the excavation, complete with vertical rebar dowels (for future core walls we assumed), then burying it again. There is some speculation that the concrete raft slab will work as some sort of high tech counterbalance, but I don't subscribe to that theory. The erection of the tower crane while there is still a ton of excavation to occur is equally baffling and just par for the course for this build.

So, yeah, some of the activities here seem really odd but at least it's entertaining as it gives us something to talk about.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

It will be less of an eyesore and generate more property tax revenues than a surface parking lot.

Not every development can be an architectural marvel; Saskatoon only has so many prime pieces of real estate that justify high-end finishes, and the local market can only buy so many two bedroom apartments for $500,000.

It seems like Roryn1's main excitement is because of the population this project will bring to his block. The increased density should be attractive for retailers, justify extra public services, make the area more vibrant, and potentially make it feel safer.

Minimum design/urban standards are important particularly on a project of this magnitude. I appreciate the argument over replacing a surface parking lot and adding more people . At some point, those parking lots will be developed and a desirable population reached and the result is a bunch of fugly buildings.

It's strange to see a hole dug that deep and then have reinforcing I beams added to the shoring. (would you call those rakers?) Normally, giant struts are added extending from one side to the other when tiebacks can't be used. They allow uninterrupted digging and construction in deep excavations

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/00/a3/5d/0...3b894622f4.jpg.

[King Ralph]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Minimum design/urban standards are important particularly on a project of this magnitude. I appreciate the argument over replacing a surface parking lot and adding more people . At some point, those parking lots will be developed and a desirable population reached and the result is a bunch of fugly buildings.

It's strange to see a hole dug that deep and then have reinforcing I beams added to the shoring. (would you call those rakers?) Normally, giant struts are added extending from one side to the other when tiebacks can't be used. They allow uninterrupted digging and construction in deep excavations

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/00/a3/5d/0...3b894622f4.jpg.

Agreed. Anything is not better than nothing. This doesn't have to be another River Landing, but it should be well thought out and nice to look at for its price point.

Saskatoon deserves better. Especially better than Baydo.

[Crisis]

OK. Time for another update, along with some juicy rumours/unconfirmed information. Firstly, the photo below was taken on October 31st and shows a fair bit of construction activity ongoing in the hole. with most of it being excavation. In the foreground of the photo, through the red fencing, you can make out the raft slab that had been poured months ago, then covered over. It has since been exposed again and you can see the dowels for the slab. It appeared as though some vertical forming is starting to occur there.

As I climbed down from my photo vantage point, a couple of people who appeared to be supervisory personnel walked over to me to inquire what I was up to. They were polite, as I wasn't within their fenced site. Told them that I was just a curious observer trying to figure out the course of construction because it was very odd. I chatted for a bit with one of the individuals, who was wearing a Rite Choice construction hardhat. He told me that the perimeter walls of the parkade are going to be precast concrete and would be installed by Rite Choice, who are owned by Baydo. He went on to say that they would be precasting the wall panels themselves. The large excavator in the centre of the photo also has a Rite Choice logo on it. A quick look at Baydo's page online confirmed that Rite Choice is one of their companies - here is their "about" page:

https://ritechoice.ca/index.html

They look to be a diversified earthwork company with some sewer & water capabilities. So, while they work with precast pipe, I think it's safe to say that pouring and installing precast wall panels is going to be something relatively new for them.

On the rumour front, while chatting with some colleagues I mentioned this and got some more input on the project. There seemed to be widespread agreement that the shoring had refused far shallower than design depth. As a result of that, they'd heard that the tower height was either:

a) being reduced to 8 floors or.
b) being reduced by 8 floors to 17 stories.

I have no idea if either or these scenarios are true, but can certainly agree that the shoring/excavation work has not gone as planned.

Looks like we'll be entertained by this build for a while to come.

[Crisis]

Stopped by site yesterday to see what has transpired over the last week. A coupe of interesting developments. Formwork is now happening in the core. At first I thought they were precast concrete panels, but on a closer look, it appears that they are actually precast concrete forms that will then be filled with more concrete. Definitely something that I haven't seen before.

Also, it looks like there are soil anchors wing installed near the base of the shoring on the east side of the excavation adjacent to the YWCA building. Here are some photos.

[Sask.ks]

Thanks for the updates Crisis! Those are some juicy rumours…is Baydo obligated to finish these towers as originally designed?? Or are they allowed to remove floors/units mid-construction?? If the below-ground portion of this development has gone as poorly as you say I guess they don’t really have a choice from an engineering/structural standpoint.

[phone]

Thanks for the updates, Crisis.

King Ralph, I hope you're pleased with yourself for being such a flagrant ***hole as to get one of this forum's most reliable contributors to apparently quit.

[King Ralph]

Originally Posted by phone

Thanks for the updates, Crisis.

King Ralph, I hope you're pleased with yourself for being such a flagrant ***hole as to get one of this forum's most reliable contributors to apparently quit.

Yes, it is my fault for him taking my valid criticisms of this abomination of a project personally.

[zeebra]

Are the photos showing up for anyone else?

[phone]

Originally Posted by King Ralph

Yes, it is my fault for him taking my valid criticisms of this abomination of a project personally.

Classic BS excuse. Blaming other people for reacting to your own odious behaviour doesn't fly. There are plenty of people here who take some issue with this project, myself included. Take a hard look in the mirror as to why people react against you in particular. I'll give you a hint, it's not because of your "valid criticisms of this abomination of a project".

[roryn1]

Sorry was travelling. One scumbag that directly targets others on here isn’t going to stop my posts lol. The mod should address it but that’s not my problem.

Lots of excavating and dirt removal happened again on the south side that you cannot see, and then the ramp was again removed. I think that is the last of the dirt but they create the dirt ramp to remove pretty quickly so maybe more is going to be removed, but should be close to done in that aspect. A lot more concrete pouring happening as well noted on the south end - I highlighted the four levels of parkade if I am correct… so not sure of the rumours of downgrading the height of the tower if the parkade is complete with the 4 planned underground floors.

[phone]

Originally Posted by roryn1

One scumbag that directly targets others on here isn’t going to stop my posts lol.

I might be a bit of a crab, but I take umbrage at being called a "scumbag"

[SaskE30]

Originally Posted by Crisis

Stopped by site yesterday to see what has transpired over the last week. A coupe of interesting developments. Formwork is now happening in the core. At first I thought they were precast concrete panels, but on a closer look, it appears that they are actually precast concrete forms that will then be filled with more concrete. Definitely something that I haven't seen before.

I am interested in seeing how they connect these panels. Typically the core of the building is the primary way of getting all of the lateral forces from the upper floors into the ground which requires a high shear capacity. From the initial images of the core, there doesn't look like enough steel sticking out of the first level of these pre-cast sections to create an adequate shear connection for a tower of this height. Maybe they will have auxiliary shear walls somewhere else or possibly braced panels along the height of the structure.

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by phone

I might be a bit of a crab, but I take umbrage at being called a "scumbag"

haha I don’t think anyone should be offended by anyone’s comments other than this King Ralph troll - maybe it’s a jealous developer, there must be a background motive to waste such time lol, everyone else is providing great discussion.

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by SaskE30

I am interested in seeing how they connect these panels. Typically the core of the building is the primary way of getting all of the lateral forces from the upper floors into the ground which requires a high shear capacity. From the initial images of the core, there doesn't look like enough steel sticking out of the first level of these pre-cast sections to create an adequate shear connection for a tower of this height. Maybe they will have auxiliary shear walls somewhere else or possibly braced panels along the height of the structure.

Are these part of the elevator shaft since it looks like they go partially below the parkade? Not very knowledgeable person here they almost look like that and bracing to the Denmark style cantilever design of this building with the concrete slab below the entire build that was mentioned a few pages up

[Crisis]

I share the same curiosity about the shear capacity of the core walls as mentioned by SaskE30. If, in fact, these actually are concrete forms that remain in place with rebar extending up through the centre of them, they may also get bolted together and have a steel skeleton on the exterior strengthen them. Would certainly be an interesting method.

As for the depth of the parkade, I think the core wall being formed are not far beneath the floor level of the lowest level of the parkade. Not much of a pit is required. I think that roryn's numbers on the photo are far too close together to represent the parkade levels. But we'll certainly find out in the coming months.

So long as roryn keeps us updated with photos, we'll have a great record of this project's construction.

[King Ralph]

Originally Posted by roryn1

haha I don’t think anyone should be offended by anyone’s comments other than this King Ralph troll - maybe it’s a jealous developer, there must be a background motive to waste such time lol, everyone else is providing great discussion.

Why would anyone be jealous of a project that looks like it is out of communist Russia?

Call me whatever you want, but there are others on here and in the city that feel the same way. This project is ugly.