PCL installs mass timber pedestrian bridge at GBC’s Limberlost Place

by arslan_ahmed | April 26, 2023 1:02 pm

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PCL and Limberlost Place partners are celebrating a significant construction milestone at George Brown College’s (GBC’s) Limberlost Place with the installation of a two-storey mass timber pedestrian bridge erected 19.8 m (65 ft) above street level.

Limberlost Place is among the first mass timber, net-zero carbon emissions institutional buildings of its kind in Ontario.

The bridge connects level five of Limberlost Place to level six of the college’s Daphne Cockwell Centre for Health Sciences. Installation of the bridge included prefabricating individual cross-laminated timber pieces at an off-site location before shipping and building it on site. After four days of assembly, the team executed a complex and intricate one-day lift to install the structure. Approximately 19.8 m (65 ft) above street level, the bridge is 21.4-m (70.2-ft) long and is made up of two glue-laminated trusses and four cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels. The two glulam trusses are made up of 10 pieces each, with two truss chords and eight vertical members, which weigh 640 pounds.

The vertical members are connected using 22 steel plates and 241 steel dowels that pin the truss chords and vertical members with the steel connection plates. The truss cords weigh approximately 1,928 kg (4,250 lbs) each. Each CLT panel weighs approximately 3,556 kg (7,840 lbs) each. At the point of install, the bridge weighed approximately 31 tonnes (34.2 tons).

Designed by Acton Ostry Architects and Moriyama Teshima Architects, Limberlost Place is a tall wood, net-zero carbon emissions building and PCL’s largest mass timber project to date. Home to GBC’s School of Architectural Studies, the School of Computer Technology, and the Brookfield Sustainability Institute (BSI), students will learn in and from this innovative and future-proof facility.

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The 10-storey building is the newest addition to GBC’s Waterfront Campus; Limberlost Place is expected to be completed by the fall of 2024 and will open for classes in January 2025.

Other project collaborators are mass timber supplier, Nordic Structures; the structural engineer, Fast + Epp; mechanical and electrical engineer, Integral Group; structural steel design-assist, Walters Group; building envelope consultant, Morrison Hershfield; and sustainability consultant, Transsolar.

“Congratulations to the entire project team as we move one step closer to the completion of this revolutionary project that is setting a precedent in mass timber construction,” says Myke Badry, PCL Toronto’s district manager.

“It was incredibly exciting to witness the installation of the mass timber pedestrian bridge at Limberlost Place,” says Nerys Rau, GBC’s project director for Limberlost Place. “It was really impressive to see the placement done with such methodical precision.”

Source URL: https://www.constructioncanada.net/pcl-installs-mass-timber-pedestrian-bridge-at-gbcs-limberlost-place/

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