Ansem
Banned
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...office-tower-gets-a-100-million-facelift.aspx
The Italian white marble that clads Canada’s tallest office tower, First Canadian Place, is coming down next year, all 45,000 slabs of it, the owners announced today. In its place, workers will install 7,800 panels of white glass.
All of which is good news; two years ago a slab of marble, roughly a metre square, fell off the building after a spring rainstorm. Frightened police closed down the whole financial district.
Brookfield Properties Corp. said the $100-million restoration job will also involve a rethink of the lobbies in the skyscraper, including new staircases “redesigned to be lighter in scale.’’
This is more good news for Toronto’s thriving business district. The new Bay Adelaide Centre opened last week; two new towers for Telus and the Royal Bank are nearing completion.
Brookfield Properties Corp. bought First Canadian Place on the tower’s 30th birthday in 2005 from a branch of the Reichmann family of Olympia & York fame, who were the original builders. Tom Farley, president and chief executive of Brookfield’s Canadian commercial operations, said the company knew at the time that the iconic tower was a fixer-upper. He said the original builders simply used a marble skin on the building that was too thin.
“The panels should actually have been thicker,†Mr. Farley says. “If they had been two inches thick they would have lasted 100 years.â€
Since it bought the tower, Brookfield has been replacing defective marble tiles one at a time. In our minds’ eye, First Canadian Place, the 72-storey headquarters of the Bank of Montreal, is white. But today when I looked at it more closely I noticed that, over the years, the marble panels -- two rows of 120 tiles per floor -- have changed to a yellowy-grey colour. The 2’ X 4’ marble panels that the owners have replaced over the years look a bit like the occasional false tooth.
Brookfield is about to select a Canadian manufacturer to produce the 7,800 panels of “brilliant new white fritted glass,†each panel 8’ by 10.’ Fritted means that tiny white glass particles are baked into the glass. Starting at the top and using swing stages hung from the building’s side, workers will replace the marble on all four sides, completing the job at the end of 2011.
“It will have a fresh new look to it,†Mr. Farley promises. “It’s gonna be a massive undertaking. We have quantified all the logistics on implementing the strategy.â€
Today I noticed workers have already removed four marble panels per floor on much of the tower’s west side, exposing yellow insulation. It seems somehow sad that the Romans and Greeks could build structures of marble that lasted millenia, but ours crumble after a few decades. That’s progress, I guess.
Brookfield says it plans to “recycle†the marble; Mr. Farley says perhaps they will crush the marble and sell it for “rooftop reflective ballast;†that is, white gravel that will reflect sunlight and keep office towers cool. He also suggested he will offer the marble for landscaping and community art projects.
There may be even more edifying uses for such venerable marble slabs; two of them would solve our kitchen countertop problem.
Some facts about First Canadian Place:
• When First Canadian Place opened in 1975 at the corner of King and Bay streets it was, at 72 storeys, the tallest office building in the Commonwealth. The headquarters for the Bank of Montreal, it remains the tallest office tower in Canada, and has 30 elevators, half each serving odd and even floors.
• Olympia & York, the builders, clad the tower in about 45,000 panels of Carrera marble it brought by ship from Italy. Each 2’ X 4’ panel is about 4 cm thick. Brookfield Properties, which bought the tower in 2005, has since replaced hundreds of the weather-beaten marble panels, after at least one panel fell off, endangering those below.
• Brookfield now plans to replace the marble façade with 7,800 “spandrel panels†of “fritted glass.†Each white glass panel, baked in Canada, will be the size of eight marble tiles. Workers will start at the apex and work their way down on swing stages, similar to those used by window-washers. The marble tiles in the building’s four corners will make way for brass panels.
• The company promises to redefine First Canadian Place as “Canada’s premier address for business and pleasure,†with a renovation of its 120-shop underground mall, including “new iconic national retail brands.â€
• The marble in the lobby will disappear too, replaced with glazed glass and brushed steel. All the details are at redefiningfirst.com.
• On the King Street side one marble panel, at ground level, bears this engraving: “This symbolic cornerstone of First Bank Tower was unveiled b the Honourable Pauline McGibbon, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, on Oct. 3, 1974.†The company did not say what will become of this most precious of the tiles.
The Italian white marble that clads Canada’s tallest office tower, First Canadian Place, is coming down next year, all 45,000 slabs of it, the owners announced today. In its place, workers will install 7,800 panels of white glass.
All of which is good news; two years ago a slab of marble, roughly a metre square, fell off the building after a spring rainstorm. Frightened police closed down the whole financial district.
Brookfield Properties Corp. said the $100-million restoration job will also involve a rethink of the lobbies in the skyscraper, including new staircases “redesigned to be lighter in scale.’’
This is more good news for Toronto’s thriving business district. The new Bay Adelaide Centre opened last week; two new towers for Telus and the Royal Bank are nearing completion.
Brookfield Properties Corp. bought First Canadian Place on the tower’s 30th birthday in 2005 from a branch of the Reichmann family of Olympia & York fame, who were the original builders. Tom Farley, president and chief executive of Brookfield’s Canadian commercial operations, said the company knew at the time that the iconic tower was a fixer-upper. He said the original builders simply used a marble skin on the building that was too thin.
“The panels should actually have been thicker,†Mr. Farley says. “If they had been two inches thick they would have lasted 100 years.â€
Since it bought the tower, Brookfield has been replacing defective marble tiles one at a time. In our minds’ eye, First Canadian Place, the 72-storey headquarters of the Bank of Montreal, is white. But today when I looked at it more closely I noticed that, over the years, the marble panels -- two rows of 120 tiles per floor -- have changed to a yellowy-grey colour. The 2’ X 4’ marble panels that the owners have replaced over the years look a bit like the occasional false tooth.
Brookfield is about to select a Canadian manufacturer to produce the 7,800 panels of “brilliant new white fritted glass,†each panel 8’ by 10.’ Fritted means that tiny white glass particles are baked into the glass. Starting at the top and using swing stages hung from the building’s side, workers will replace the marble on all four sides, completing the job at the end of 2011.
“It will have a fresh new look to it,†Mr. Farley promises. “It’s gonna be a massive undertaking. We have quantified all the logistics on implementing the strategy.â€
Today I noticed workers have already removed four marble panels per floor on much of the tower’s west side, exposing yellow insulation. It seems somehow sad that the Romans and Greeks could build structures of marble that lasted millenia, but ours crumble after a few decades. That’s progress, I guess.
Brookfield says it plans to “recycle†the marble; Mr. Farley says perhaps they will crush the marble and sell it for “rooftop reflective ballast;†that is, white gravel that will reflect sunlight and keep office towers cool. He also suggested he will offer the marble for landscaping and community art projects.
There may be even more edifying uses for such venerable marble slabs; two of them would solve our kitchen countertop problem.
Some facts about First Canadian Place:
• When First Canadian Place opened in 1975 at the corner of King and Bay streets it was, at 72 storeys, the tallest office building in the Commonwealth. The headquarters for the Bank of Montreal, it remains the tallest office tower in Canada, and has 30 elevators, half each serving odd and even floors.
• Olympia & York, the builders, clad the tower in about 45,000 panels of Carrera marble it brought by ship from Italy. Each 2’ X 4’ panel is about 4 cm thick. Brookfield Properties, which bought the tower in 2005, has since replaced hundreds of the weather-beaten marble panels, after at least one panel fell off, endangering those below.
• Brookfield now plans to replace the marble façade with 7,800 “spandrel panels†of “fritted glass.†Each white glass panel, baked in Canada, will be the size of eight marble tiles. Workers will start at the apex and work their way down on swing stages, similar to those used by window-washers. The marble tiles in the building’s four corners will make way for brass panels.
• The company promises to redefine First Canadian Place as “Canada’s premier address for business and pleasure,†with a renovation of its 120-shop underground mall, including “new iconic national retail brands.â€
• The marble in the lobby will disappear too, replaced with glazed glass and brushed steel. All the details are at redefiningfirst.com.
• On the King Street side one marble panel, at ground level, bears this engraving: “This symbolic cornerstone of First Bank Tower was unveiled b the Honourable Pauline McGibbon, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, on Oct. 3, 1974.†The company did not say what will become of this most precious of the tiles.
