GEWI ^® Piles stabilize Tip Top Tailors building, Canada

Tip Top Tailors building condominium conversion Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Tip Top Tailors building is a 1929 utilitarian garment factory that has been listed on the city of Toronto inventory of heritage properties in 1973. This landmark building is being restored to a new life as a condo conversion.

To the original five-story 150,000 square foot U-shaped structure a 100,000 square foot, six-story addition will be built on top accounting for 80 suites of the 230 total. Standing on reclaimed land from Lake Ontario, the existing building is founded on wooden piles driven to refusal at the top of bedrock. These piles are all below groundwater level and still in good condition. In order to take the loads from the new levels, the vertical elements were founded on a series of straight and battered GEWI ^® Piles.

Piling contractor Geo-Foundations Contractors Inc. installed the GEWI ^® Piles,, many passing through existing foundations. The GEWI ^® Piles consisted of two DYWIDAG Threadbars 63 mm Grade 80 / St555/700 or two DYWIDAG Threadbars 57mm Grade 75 / St500/550, in a steel casing for the free length.

GEWI ^® Piles lengths were about 9.5m with a 3.5m rock socket; to accommodate height restrictions,DYWIDAG Threadbars were supplied in less than 10 feet sections and joined on site by full strength couplers. A 15° battered production pile was successfully tested to 4,000 kN load.
Thus another landmark building rehabilitated using the GEWI ^® Piles system..