Valhalla Village uses latest in construction techniques

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New approach will help twin-tower rental project to be built faster and more affordably

Valhalla Village, an environmentally friendly, twin-tower rental property now being built at Bloor St. and The East Mall in Etobicoke, is not your traditional construction project.

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Led by private equity real estate investment firm Kingsett Capital and the architectural firm of BDP Quadrangle, the goal is to take modern building techniques to new heights through an approach first developed in the U.K. in the early 2000s called Modern Methods of Construction or MMC.

MMC contains different categories that range from off-site pre-manufacturing, 3D structural systems or pre-manufactured elements, with the ultimate goal to build a structure not only quicker, but also reduce construction waste.

According to a posting from Zurich Insurance, “modular, factory-based production of component parts can result in a more consistent quality of construction. Proponents of MMC say this can reduce the risk of defects.

“Off-site construction can also lead to more reliable timescales for construction projects, as factors such as adverse weather have less impact. The need for on-site labour is also considerably reduced.”

In the case of Valhalla, Phase One involves the construction of 494 units, 40 per cent of which will be affordable housing, in a 11-storey structure known as Tower D that is being built using MMC methods and a 30-storey building known as Tower A being built using traditional concrete construction.

Michelle Xuereb, innovation director with BDP, said the reason for that is the current “sweet spot” for MMC currently is a building that is no higher than 14-storeys.

“One of the differences with modern methods of construction is that you want to start collaborating with your manufacturers very early on, so that you can get into the manufacturing queue,” she says.

“You really want to have a certain percentage of the pieces fabricated before you start bringing them to site, so that you can you don’t lose the flow.”

A Kingsett-BDP fact sheet states that Tower D uses a modular precast system consisting of structural columns, beams, floors, and exterior cladding panels with preinstalled windows.

With an occupation date of March 2026 scheduled to take place, Xuereb says the MMC initiative is going smoothly.

“You learn a lot when you use a system for the first time. It started out working out the logistics, the trucking, the fabricating, getting the pieces in place. Sometimes you have a little more precast than you have Windows. Sometimes have more windows than precast, but they were installing the windows into precast panels at the precast manufacturers facility.”

“Once we got the rhythm up and functioning, they (the installers) can put up a floor with structure and full-in closure in nine days and they think they’ll eventually be able to speed up that cycle. But for now, that’s where they are at.”

Among the government organizations involved in Valhalla Village is the City of Toronto, which stated in a release issued last year that the “new affordable rental homes at 300-304 The East Mall will remain affordable for a minimum of 40 years and be part of a larger mixed-income and mixed-use development.

“Affordable rents will be set at 100 per cent of the Average Market Rent as reported annually by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), providing much-needed affordable housing options for low- and moderate-income households.”