Giant Mobile Crane Removes Tower Crane at The Madison

Madison Homes' eponymous condominium development, The Madison, has come a long way since the project got underway on Eglinton Avenue east of Yonge Street in Midtown Toronto. Work started in 2012 with the demolition of the former York Theatre and a pair of adjacent low-rise commercial buildings, and in the years since the 33 and 36-storey, Kirkor Architects-designed towers have been structurally completed. That structural work culminated with the removal of the east tower's crane this past March, and over this past weekend with the removal of the crane atop the taller west tower.

View of the mobile crane used to remove the tower crane, image by Forum contributor Fidlefadle

The operation was carried out using a massive mobile crane, which required the temporary closure of Eglinton between Yonge and Redpath, resulting in the detouring of both eastbound and westbound traffic for the duration of the crane removal.

Crane being removed from The Madison's west tower, image by Forum contributor Freegoing

A hydraulic telescoping arm allows the mobile crane to stretch above the condominium tower's roofline, where individual segments of the tower crane are fixed to the temporary rig. The segments are then disconnected from the tower crane, and carefully lowered down to street level to be loaded onto a waiting flatbed truck.

View of the mobile crane used to remove the tower crane, image by Forum contributor Fidlefadle

While the process may seem relatively straightforward on paper, plenty of precise calculations and complex engineering is required to keep the mobile rig stable while lowering such massive crane components. This is evidenced by the stack of counterweights at the base of the rig, shown in the image below with red triangular markings.

View of the mobile crane used to remove the tower crane, image by Forum contributor Fidlefadle

The crane removal process wrapped up on Sunday morning, when the temporary rig was loaded onto a flatbed truck and transported off to its next job site.

Portable crane being removed on Sunday morning, image by Forum contributor Fidlefadle

We will keep you updated as the project nears completion, and the retail opens. In the meantime, make sure to check out our dataBase file, linked below. Want to share your thoughts on the project? Feel free to leave a comment in the space below this page, or join the ongoing conversation in our associated Forum thread.