Fitting to the Glasshouse Skylofts project, we start with a smash hit. Once the surveyors have set painstakingly exact locations, work begins by pounding approximately 136 steel piles, each about 55 feet long through the Manitoba clay and into the solid bedrock below. These piles form the roots that anchor the Glasshouse tower. Each steel pile is driven into the ground by a “hammer” (weighing about the same as the average car) striking the steel (that weighs about 117 lbs per foot) with 48,742 ft. lbs of energy 35 times per minute until it reaches bedrock. Each pile is then capable of supporting 1,004,221 lbs. and is the origin of the “sound of progress” that echoed throughout the downtown streets for approximately 25 days.
The steel piles are tied together in clusters by concrete pile caps. Layers of reinforcing steel are tied and encapsulated within solid concrete slabs over a three and a half feet thick. These pile caps will support the vertical structure of the Glasshouse Skylofts tower.