University of Toronto, St. George Campus

Compass was awarded three contracts to complete renovations at the University of Toronto’s Jackman Humanities building in downtown Toronto.  All work was to be completed simultaneously and within an extremely short construction timeframe. In addition, three separate consultants were retained by the University to administrate separate parts of the overall project. 

The overall scope of work included extensive renovations to the 4^th, 5^th, 7^th, 9th and 10^th floors of the building as well as extensive roof modifications, hazardous materials abatement within a mid-floor crawlspace and new rooftop air handling units.  Construction took place while the building remained occupied.

The renovated spaces on the 4^th, 5^th, 7^th, and 9^th floors include mostly faculty offices, administration spaces and seminar rooms. The 10^th floor space is the new home of the Jackman Humanities Institute and includes many unique, complex construction details and high-end finishes. The completed interior space contains private offices, boardrooms, meeting rooms, staff offices, a library and various administration spaces.  The existing crawl space between the 9^th and 10^th floors, originally designed as a service space, was abated as required to allow for the renovations above and below.  In addition to the interior renovations noted above, Compass completed extensive roof work on the building. This scope included remedial structural enhancements to carry additional loading, roof openings to accommodate new mechanical services and the creation of a rooftop terrace. 

The tight, downtown sight necessitated the closure of public streets and the lifting of the large new air-handling units in sections.  The installation of the curbs, large sections of new roofing and the HVAC units was carefully coordinated and completed over one weekend to accommodate the schedule.

This project serves as a fine example of Compass’s ability to successfully coordinate and implement the demanding requirements of a client, the input of multiple consultants and the challenges of a difficult site environment. Further, through careful site management, we were able to coordinate a large number of sub-trades, a set of diverse construction specifications and details and an extremely aggressive construction schedule.