Eureka (534 Charles St E) | 32, 27, 15 fl | U/C

[westwardloo]

Construction fencing is up with advertising for Eureka rentals. Construction trailer is on site, looks like Vive is hoping to start digging soon.

[Square]

Pile driver and piles and excavator onsite. Also behind the tattoo building they have a big machine, no idea what's it is used for.

[ZEBuilder]

Pile driver and piles and excavator onsite.  Also behind the tattoo building they have a big machine, no idea what's it is used for.

That big machine is a mobile cement silo. I'm not involved with this project so I don't know the exact details but generally when HCM (the shoring company) does a secant pile wall they will bring in one of their silos to produce concrete on site. They did this with Sylk towers and have done this on other large shoring sites elsewhere in Ontario, so presumably this will be a secant pile wall. They could have it just for securing the base of the I beam for your solider pile wall but generally they don't require anywhere near enough concrete for a entire silo.

Generally in KW the vast majority of shoring is soldier pile and lagging, this is your typical metal I beam and wooden boards, Station Park, Duke Tower, Drewlo, TEK, 900 King St W, Garment/100 Vic and a bunch of smaller projects utilize this.

Charlie West and Sylk Towers used secant walls, its more expensive to build then a soldier pile wall hence why its not as common but sometimes if the soil conditions are bad enough you need a stronger wall which you can get from a secant wall, obviously you can get additional strength from tiebacks but it all depends on the soil conditions and anyone in the geotech realm can tell you that the soil in KW varies an insane amount literal meters from each other.

[Square]

Pile driver and piles and excavator onsite.  Also behind the tattoo building they have a big machine, no idea what's it is used for.

That big machine is a mobile cement silo. I'm not involved with this project so I don't know the exact details but generally when HCM (the shoring company) does a secant pile wall they will bring in one of their silos to produce concrete on site. They did this with Sylk towers and have done this on other large shoring sites elsewhere in Ontario, so presumably this will be a secant pile wall. They could have it just for securing the base of the I beam for your solider pile wall but generally they don't require anywhere near enough concrete for a entire silo.

Generally in KW the vast majority of shoring is soldier pile and lagging, this is your typical metal I beam and wooden boards, Station Park, Duke Tower, Drewlo, TEK, 900 King St W, Garment/100 Vic and a bunch of smaller projects utilize this.

Charlie West and Sylk Towers used secant walls, its more expensive to build then a soldier pile wall hence why its not as common but sometimes if the soil conditions are bad enough you need a stronger wall which you can get from a secant wall, obviously you can get additional strength from tiebacks but it all depends on the soil conditions and anyone in the geotech realm can tell you that the soil in KW varies an insane amount literal meters from each other.

Thank you for the details.

[ac3r]

There appears to be a lot of action on this site recently so I guess this is finally started. King Street was closed when I was driving down it this morning.

I guess we can update the thread now that they renamed this to Eureka. Not sure why they went with such a goofy name for this though haha.

[Rainrider22]

A lot of activity? They are done all the steal and now excavating King was closed to tap into infrastructure for the build. I have been watching for a bit as my favorite cafe/bakery is there. Shout out to City Cafe

[neonjoe]

There appears to be a lot of action on this site recently so I guess this is finally started. King Street was closed when I was driving down it this morning.

I guess we can update the thread now that they renamed this to Eureka. Not sure why they went with such a goofy name for this though haha.

The Eureka Vacuum cleaner was part of Onward MFG. this is where it started.

[panamaniac]

There appears to be a lot of action on this site recently so I guess this is finally started. King Street was closed when I was driving down it this morning.

I guess we can update the thread now that they renamed this to Eureka. Not sure why they went with such a goofy name for this though haha.

Thank Gerd!  Even by the standards of modern building names, "Lower Kitchener" was an absolute stinker.

[ac3r]

That's the most Vive thing ever. First, propose a building named after the city. Incorporate the original factory structure into the new building, with the design working with the surrounding urban area. Then, scrap that idea but incorporate a map of the area on the facade which didn't look great, but still looked like someting. Then: throw that idea in the garbage, then make the architects redesign the building using only coldest, most sterile grey pre-cast concrete panels so that the tower looks like a vertical maximum security prison. Lastly, rename it after an archaic vacuum cleaner brand originally owned by Americans, but now owned by one of the richest billionaires in communist China.

I love Waterloo Region so much lmfao.

[panamaniac]

That's the most Vive thing ever. First, propose a building named after the city. Incorporate the original factory structure into the new building, with the design working with the surrounding urban area. Then, scrap that idea but incorporate a map of the area on the facade which didn't look great, but still looked like someting. Then: throw that idea in the garbage, then make the architects redesign the building using only coldest, most sterile grey pre-cast concrete panels so that the tower looks like a vertical maximum security prison. Lastly, rename it after an archaic vacuum cleaner brand originally owned by Americans, but now owned by one of the richest billionaires in communist China.

I love Waterloo Region so much lmfao.

Founded in Detroit by a Canadian, in fact.  Those who know Kitchener understand the pride that is taken in its industrial history, including that of Onward Mfg.  Personally, I think that "The Onward" would have been a good name, but they might have encountered issues since the company still exists.