Click here to see Canada’s most comprehensive listing of projects in conceptual and planning stages
Click here to see Canada’s most comprehensive listing of projects in conceptual and planning stages Scaffold Hoist Tower
Crews doing a façade retrofit on a 40-year-old office tower in downtown Montreal won’t face weather challenges this winter because the work is being done from a heated and fully equipped sheltered platform.
Consisting of a 10-metre-tall-by-2.5-metre-wide steel frame structure covered in a polycarbonate wrap, the platform contains two decks so crews can work on two floors at a time on the 28-storey tower at 600 De La Gauchetiere West.
It allows a crew to disassemble the façade on one floor and install the new one on a second deck within the covered platform, says Jacques Gauthier, vice-president of business development of Brossard, Que.-based Upbrella Construction that is behind the sheltered working space.
It is the first “sheltered retrofit” project for Upbrella, which has built a reputation over the past eight years building new towers with its patented craneless sheltered system.
“The main attraction for the owner here is to reduce the inconvenience for tenants because we won’t block the street and we’ll make the project fast enough that it won’t become an irritant,” he says.
The retrofit started in June and will be completed in 24 months, two years ahead of the schedule of a conventional façade retrofit using a tower crane, he says.
Upbrella’s platform system is suspended on cables from a load-bearing structure installed on the building roof.
The company provides heating, lighting, ventilation and amenities such as sanitary facilities and first-aid stations for the enclosed deck which wraps around the building. Two motorized mast climbers supply tools, equipment and labour to and from the work shelter.
“We’ve designed a logistics platform at ground level that doesn’t block the street or sidewalk and the workers don’t have to go up and down or wait for material, it is there when they need it,” Gauthier says.
It takes subcontractors about two weeks to complete each floor.
Over that period tenants occupying the space near windows only need to vacate their work area for two days while the new façade is being installed.
Gauthier says Upbrella jobs generally cost five to 20 per cent less than conventional projects involving tower cranes.
Upbrella recovers and reuses the materials and components making up the shelter for future projects. “It helps us make this competitive.”
Gauthier says with commercial building owners under growing pressure to meet decarbonization targets, the number of façade retrofits should grow in cities such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
“I think the Upbrella solution fits an acute market need,” he says, pointing out the economic advantages of the sheltered system kick in on buildings 15 floors or taller.
Upbrella’s market is largely in new commercial towers but Gauthier says residential towers are practical when the building form is “regular,” allowing Upbrella’s system to climb floor by floor for the project’s duration.
Sheltered platforms have been employed by other contractors for façade retrofits but Gauthier says Upbrella separates itself from the pack because all of its components are reusable.
The project in downtown Montreal also includes the complete redesign of the first three floors, with the addition of a new entrance.
LEED Gold and BOMA BEST Gold certifications are being targeted by owner Kevric Real Estate Corporation.
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