Construction Blog

After demolishing the exterior to the ground, things are starting to look up. Here's the new steel frame for the extension of the library on the southwest corner.

Photo: Sean Ingram

It's getting a little more difficult to orientate ourselves about what used to be where in the remnants of the former Bora Laskin Law Library. This is the view looking down to what was the Lower Rotunda. The door to the old locker room is towards the bottom right.

Here's a closer look at the locker doorway. The caisson driller has arrived, and is parked on site. Next week, the drilling starts as we enter the initial phase of the foundation work for the new Crescent Wing of the Jackman Law Building.

The vibration monitor has been installed and the exterior demolition is being carefully watched and measured with this equipment. It's a grim, wet, cool spring day and the large excavators with supersized shears are back at work, crunching up the concrete, slicing steel and ripping down building materials. Salvageable materials are separated for recycling.

"Demolition is continuing and the reinforcing of the existing pavilion structure is taking place," says Eastern's project manager Dean Walker. "The shoring will commence in a couple of weeks with caisson footings to follow. These caisson footings at the far end of the building will carry the weight of the cantilevered part of the new structure."

In the mean time, the crew is busy finalizing the structural demolition and building cut lines. Watch the crew in action on our live webcam feed.

Last wall standing from the Moot Court. But by the time you read this, it will likely be gone too. Debris is being sorted and cleared out each day as quickly as possible. And the exterior panels are coming off one by one.

Here's what the first level of the library looks like now.

The interior will be cleaned out by early next week and the structural demolition will continue. Live updates here.