Press Releases

Spider Selected to Assist in Façade Restoration of Toronto's First Canadian Place

March 3, 2006

Seattle, WA - Spider, a division of SafeWorks, LLC, has been awarded the contract to provide a permanent access solution to Brookfield Properties on its newly acquired First Canadian Place in Toronto, Canada.

First Canadian Place, at 1,164 ft/355 m, has been Canada's tallest building since 1975. It is at the center of Toronto's business and financial district and receives over 16 million visitors annually. Famous for its unique white stone façade, over 600 tons of stone per floor, it is a challenge to maintain and demands the best façade maintenance system in the world.

This will be the second machine that Spider will supply to the building in twelve years. In 1994, Spider provided a replacement façade maintenance system to the facility's previous owner, Olympia & York Properties. This system is still used extensively and continues to operate at full capacity.

Eight years later, O & Y Properties purchased a second machine from a local Toronto supplier. After careful evaluation of the two systems, the new owner, Brookfield Properties, decided that the quality and dependability of Spider's machine would be required to enable completion of a major renovation to the exterior.

Brookfield Properties is renovating the granite façade, and Spider's engineers are working hand-in-hand to provide a custom roof machine with a work platform designed to support 3,200 lbs. of live load while traversing the 951 ft high facade. This unique solution allows for easy access and safe maneuverability of the granite replacement panels while dramatically increasing production time during the renovation process.

Spider is pleased to be welcomed back to First Canadian Place as the preferred permanent access system supplier.

This project is expected to be completed in September 2006.