The St. Regis Toronto

Background

The St. Regis Toronto is one of the more luxurious buildings in Canada. As a 65-story tower, it has more than enough space to feature hotel rooms, residential suites, fine dining, a spa and wellness center, a meeting and event space, and a number of high-end services and furnishings.

However, with its height over 275 m (900 ft) above the city, the building faces major wind sway. To counterbalance the sway, construction workers added two large water tanks to the top of the building during the structure’s development. That ensured that when the building sways, water transfers between the two tanks to counteract the force.

Unfortunately, this solution came with a potential risk for leaking if it wasn’t properly waterproofed. As these two water tanks sit atop 65 floors of high-end real estate, luxury dining, and amenities, the amount of damage they could create if they leaked could be worth millions. They needed to be completely watertight. Leaks into multimillion-dollar apartments could not be tolerated.

Solution

Canada Building Materials presented Lewis Builders Ltd. with Kryton’s KIM concrete waterproofing admixture as a permanent waterproofing solution for the rooftop tanks. The contractor ended up going with this recommendation as KIM came with concrete self-sealing features and a 25-year warranty. It would also shave some time off the construction schedule. The contractor came to this last thought when they considered using a more traditional waterproofing membrane. With the extra application steps and complications not found with KIM, the membrane would have added two weeks to the contractor’s schedule and there was no guarantee that the traditional method would last for the life of the concrete.

With that in mind, they added KIM to the concrete mix to waterproof the water tanks. For protection elsewhere, they also did the same for the concrete of the indoor infinity salt water pool and whirlpool located on the 32nd floor. After all, the two spaces were directly above The St. Regis Toronto’s luxury STOCK restaurant and lounge, so a leak-free solution for both pool and whirlpool was absolutely critical.

To ensure the pool, whirlpool, and water tanks remained watertight, the contractor also added Kryton’s Krystol Waterstop System to the joints and tie holes around these structures.

Due to this careful waterproofing, The St. Regis Toronto remains standing dry and durable to this day.