A perfectly situated brown brick building in West Toronto had some surprises. The problem is that those surprises were buried in the walls and floor, not visible on the surface. Community Living Toronto was scheduled to bring their wonderful family services to the area, but first major interior fixes needed to be addressed. With the installation of sinks in multiple rooms on the ground floor, concrete trenching and excavation was required. The first problem occurred when it was discovered that the existing drainage lines were bent and broken causing a lack of drainage to the site. Once extra trenching and digging occurred to remedy this, it was also discovered that previous parking lot pavers had caused a blockage in the sewer connection to the city lines. With some roof drain lines leading to nowhere, and a rooftop HVAC unit on it’s last legs, once you mix in a little world-wide pandemic, sometimes issues out of your control begin to pile up and the only way to get ahead is to address them one by one and ensure everything gets resolved as fast as possible. This is the approach Edify had to take on this project. Staying nimble and flexible helped to deal with any problems on-site as well as in the broader world-wide context. The elevator installation and the excavation for the accessible ramp went ahead smoothly with the extra trenching required for drainage and minimal disruptions were caused for timelines. We always feel that while we can’t foresee everything on a site, if we can ensure that we communicate with the client and design team and respond to any issues in a timely and efficient manner, it can minimize any scheduling effects that the client is expecting. Even while building during a pandemic, we are exceptionally pleased with how the space has turned out for CLT. We are proud to work with an organization that does such incredible work, especially during these trying times.

Take a look at Community Living Toronto for more on this wonderful organization.

Design by DePM