Urban Design Archives - Rostie & Associates Inc.

WaterPark Place Going Green in a Big Way

October 18, 2016/in Toronto, Urban Design /by admin

Our very own RBC WaterPark Place was featured in a recent BlogTO post of the greenest buildings in the city.

With Toronto constantly growing, there’s more and more need for sustainable design in new construction projects in the city. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a rating system used around the world to signify the sustainability of buildings. They aim to transform the architecture and construction industries by pushing for the creation of high-performing, healthy green buildings to produce sustainable communities in Canada.

RBC WaterPark Place not only has an amazing view of the lake, but is also a LEED Core and Shell Platinum certified building featuring a huge 7,500 sq. foot green rooftop to give the city a breath of fresh air. Inside, CO2 sensors keep the air clean and the building taps into the lake to keep it cool inside. Efficient light and water fixtures also help significantly reduce the building’s environmental footprint and it has almost 400 bike racks for the two-wheeled commuter.

The Rostie Group, situated inside RBC WaterPark Place, is proud to be part of a project of this scale and we’re excited to see what the future holds for the city with more construction projects in Toronto taking the same route as buildings such as ours.

Construction Updates for the Waterfront Area and Southcore

July 21, 2014/in Business, Office Space, Offices, toronto meetings, Urban Design, Virtual Office Toronto /by admin

Waterfront Toronto was kind enough to update us about the following construction advisories and road restrictions in the area and we would like to pass them on to you.

Construction News

Rees Street Intersection Re-Opening
The Rees Street intersection will re-open the morning of Tuesday, July 22. Crews will continue working east of Rees Street to Lower Simcoe, pouring concrete for the new road base in preparation of the asphalt paving in the next two weeks.

New Roadway Construction
A traffic shift was implemented late last week which moved westbound Queens Quay traffic onto the new TTC right-of way from the Ellis-Don/RBC driveway, through the York intersection, and to the 207 Queens Quay west drive way. This traffic shift allows crews this week to begin excavations for both the north side (new roadway), and the southside curb lane (landscape and Martin Goodman Trail work), east of York Street.

Weekend Work: July 19/20
There will be crews working at several locations this weekend:

Rees Street to Lower Simcoe: Final details for intersection re-opening and continued sub-base and road preparations to Lower Simcoe.
Spadina Loop area: Overhead cabling work TTC crews.
Westin Hotel: Crews will be power washing and cleaning the granite pavers along the front promenade at the Westin Hotel this Saturday.

For information, please contact Robert Pasut, Eastern Construction at (416) 505-3073.

Ongoing Construction Updates

TTC Track Installation: Crews will continue final track work in the following areas:

Spadina to Yo Yo Ma Lane: Crews will continue with excavations and begin to prepare and form the sub-base for concrete and the installation of the remaining streetcar rails.
85 Harbour Street to the Bay Street Portal: Crews have completed the final concrete pour and set of rails in this area. New TTC tracks now run from the Bay Street Portal through to 390 Queens Quay.
Shoppers Drug Mart to Peter Slip Bridge: This week, a small section of the TTC corridor has been exposed for TTC crews to install the rail lubricator pads.

Spadina Loop Reconstruction: TTC Overhead Cabling crews will continue their work to install the grid of cables in this area. Crews may work overnight shifts due to traffic constraints in the area.

Granite Installation and Parking Laybys:

Bay to York (southside): Last week, crews reached the area by the Scotiabank, and will continue to excavate for the new sub-drains, conduits, and silva cells in the service road. This work began at the southwest corner of Bay Street, and crews will continue to move west to the service entrance of 33 Harbour Square. The service entrance will remain fully operational during this phase of construction work.
York and Queens Quay: This week, crews will continue with the excavations at the northwest corner of York and Queens Quay. Work in this area includes the sub-base preparations, installation of tree trenches for two new/additional trees, and the electrical conduits for the new Astral Information pillar. Crews will also begin to excavate the north and southside curb lanes. The northside work will start east of York Street to the York Ramp Parkette entrance where new catch basins will be installed. The southside curb excavations will start at the southeast corner of York, and the 77/99 Queens Quay condominiums, east to the 55/65 Harbour Square driveway entrance. Old street lights & poles will be removed and replaced with temporary poles on new permanent foundations. A pedestrian diversion path will be created around this southside work zone using the south curb lane. Access to all businesses will be maintained along this area.
208 & 218 Queens Quay Driveway: Crews have completed the granite installation of this driveway. This week, crews will continue to pour the concrete road base, followed by asphalt and road restorations between York Street and Lower Simcoe. The driveway will re-open once the road surface is paved.
Lower Simcoe to Rees Parkette:
- Northeast corner of Lower Simcoe/Queens Quay: Last week, crews completed 100% of the granite paver installation on the northern portion of the sidewalk area, adjacent the Grill 4 U business. This included the placement of the ADA – Accessibility tiles at the sidewalk/curb interface. The area has now been fully reopened to the public.
- Northwest corner of Lower Simcoe/Queens Quay: Crews will continue with the excavations for two traffic signal pole footings at this corner of the intersection.
- 228/230 Queens Quay: The paver work continues at the Rees Street Parkette, where crews will continue with the infill of the second layby with granite pavers. This week, crews are expected to complete the installation of granite pavers in this area, and up to the property line of 250 Queens Quay.
Rees Street Parking Lot: Crews have completed the pour of concrete for the removable tree trench covers, and placed the planting soil in the tree trenches. Last week, crews also began to lay the new granite pavers in this area. This work will continue, and is expected to be completed in the next two weeks.
HTO Park East: Crews have completed the installation of granite pavers in this area from the Rees WaveDeck west to the EMS/Fire Station driveway. This area will be re-opened to the public once the final landscape details are completed this week.
West of Lower Spadina: Crews will continue with roadway excavations, layout, and sub-base preparations, and pour the concrete base structures. Some noise should be expected with these activities. The installation of granite pavers is scheduled to begin this week.

New Roadway Construction Underway: Crews continue rebuilding the new roadway on Queens Quay.

Bay Street to York Street: Roadway construction (service laneway) will continue on the southside.
York Street/Queens Quay: A traffic shift last week, moved westbound Queens Quay traffic onto the new TTC right-of way in this area. This week, crews will begin to excavate both north and southside curb lanes east of York Street.
York Street to Lower Simcoe: The concrete base slab between York and Simcoe will continue to be formed and poured, followed by new asphalt paving.
Lower Simcoe to Rees: Crews will continue with the concrete base road preparation which includes the form and pour of the concrete base slab in this area, in advance of the asphalt resurfacing.

Telecommunications Work: Distinct Technical Cable Services crews (sub-contractor for Rogers, Cogeco, and Allstream) will continue work at the 350 Queens Quay/Beer Store and various other locations along the Queens Quay. All work will be performed behind jersey barriers/fast fence with no impacts to pedestrians or traffic.

For more information, please click here to read the complete notice or visit the project webpage – www.waterfrontoronto.ca/constructingqq:

PATH Coming Soon!

July 16, 2014/in Business, Office Space, Offices, Toronto, Urban Design, Urban Design, workspace /by admin

Bridge to Path2

The new RBC WaterPark Place Tower is almost complete and we are delighted to see the progress. Along with the new RBC WaterPark Place, our building will be connected to the PATH. Walking through the neighbourhood, we saw the bridge to the PATH and can see it is almost ready. We are very excited to be connected to Union station and all the amenities of the PATH.

Here is a video of the proposed building:

The countdown for the Pan Am Games begins with a gift from Cisco

July 14, 2014/in Events, Offices, Toronto, toronto meetings, Urban Design, Urban Design, workspace /by admin

Over the weekend, a festival was held to give residents a taste of what is to come for the Pan Am Games next year. The festival kicked off the one year wait to the big games. The celebration started on Friday morning with the unveiling of a countdown clock and speeches by several dignitaries. Cisco was kind enough to unveil a beautiful clock that they created just for the countdown to the games. The clock has many interesting features and many new features will be unveiled between now and the start of the games. To find out more about the clock, please read Toronto Star’s article here.

Sneak Peek: RBC’s New South Core Tower

July 14, 2014/in Business, Offices, Toronto, Urban Design, Urban Design /by admin

We received this great article in a newsletter from BisNow (www.bisnow.com) and we had to share it!. To view the full newsletter or to subscribe to the BisNow list, please click here.

What led Oxford Properties VP John Peets to call WaterPark Place III Toronto’s “smartest” building? We brought our camera and some pub trivia questions to test it out.

John took us on a hard-hat tour of the 31-storey, 900k SF tower in Toronto’s burgeoning South Core, slated to open Sept. 5. The third phase of a 1.7M SF, three-tower commercial complex at Bay Street and Queens Quay Boulevard, WaterPark Place III will be Royal Bank of Canada’s retail banking HQ. It will also house Cisco Canada’s 100k SF head office and an innovation centre showcasing the company’s latest technology, while Canada Newswire will occupy the 30th floor. The building is already 81% leased.

Designed to achieve LEED Platinum, WaterPark Place III has an array of green features: Fritted glass fins on the facade (pictured) deflect sunlight; green roofs reduce the heat island effect; and recycled greywater is used for irrigation. The building is equipped to take in 30% more fresh air than the ASHRAE standard, and there are 350 bike-park stalls—vs 450 car stalls—with showers and change rooms.

RBC decided to move to WaterPark Place III largely because it will be connected to the downtown PATH system (above is where the opening will be). The tower will have an above-ground link to Air Canada Centre and Union Station via an elevated, covered walkway that will run under the Gardiner Expressway through a new condo complex being built across the road.

The building will have 50k SF of retail, a big boost for the South Core, which has had little by way of shops and services. In addition to the 12 vendors located in the glass-ceiling food court (pictured—if you ordered some food, it may be a little while til it’s ready), there will be a Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Rexall pharmacy, medical/dental office, fitness centre, and 25k SF auditorium for RBC. John tells us there will also be a high-end sushi restaurant, as well as an outdoor patio.

The office floors—26k SF on average—are open, flexible, and designed to accommodate high densities. Cisco technology powers the operating systems. Each light has its own IP address, so when a tenant swipes a parking pass, it alerts his or her workspace of the arrival and sets the lighting to their preference. (Same for temperature.) Each floor will be separately metered for power, so tenants can monitor consumption. “It’s the most advanced building we’ve done in Toronto,” says Paul Hickey, left, of EllisDon, the project’s GC (here with superintendent Brian Blackman).