35 Charles Street West Parking Garage and Podium Deck Rehabilitation

Located at 30 & 35 Charles Street West, the University of Toronto’s Student Family Housing development comprises a 20-storey high rise residential apartment building and three low rise commercial buildings with a variety of amenities including retail, grocery, office and child day care spaces.

The 177,000 sq. ft. residential development includes a 3-level underground parking garage located directly below the entire complex that provides parking for approximately 500 vehicles.

As Prime Consultant, RJC Engineers was retained by the University of Toronto as specialists in the evaluation and restoration of existing structures to perform a structural evaluation of the parking structure.

Extensive concrete deterioration was apparent and abundant throughout the entire parking garage, which warranted the need for substantial repairs.

In light of these findings, a 5-year phased parking garage rehabilitation program was implemented by the University, which included a complete slab replacement repair strategy and installation of new waterproof coatings.Given the sensitive nature of the building’s occupancies above the parking garage, state of the art hydrodemolition was incorporated into the work to minimize noise generated during construction.

Through collaboration and effective communication throughout the construction phase, RJC was able to minimize the disruption to the building’s residents and retailers above, which was a critical success factor for this project.