Crane operator and his rigger get a close up look at the Paradigm site under construction on Fairview

News 100 blueBy Pepper Parr

January 18, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

There is that phrase “build it and they will come” and it might be true but if your sinking millions into the construction of a five tower project that is going to change significantly a part of town that didn’t have much vim or vigour to it – you don’t just build – you sell.

People driving along Fairview can see a smart looking one storey structure with a lot of glass and the liberal use of pink paint. If they stretch their necks they might see the two construction cranes – but traffic moves along Fairview at a pretty swift pace.

Paradigm - Roger Park at the site level 2 being poured

Project manager Rodger Park looks over the second level of the parking garage of the West Tower.

In behind the construction hoardings there is a big hole out of which is rising the West Tower – the first of three Paradigm towers that will rise out of the ground and up to a height of 22 storeys at the back of the project.  Two additional 18 storey towers will be at the front closer to Fairview.

Project Manager Rodger Park is on the site very early each morning waiting for the arrival of the crane operator who will climb up the 215 foot ladder and get the electricity running to the crane – and in the winter get the heaters turned on as well before the serious construction on the ground can begin.

Crane cabin

John Caronello spends his shift in a crane 215 feet above the construction site

John Caronello, the crane operator with 32 years experience behind him, gets his communications gear on and does the sound checks with his rigger Ryan Vandermeer on the ground so the buckets of concrete or loads of steel can begin moving.

The people building the project are focused on getting each level of the building completed on time – and with Park running the show – schedules get met. The construction crews will tell you how big each building is going to be – but oddly enough they don’t know all that much about what the building is going to look like other than what they see painted on the construction hoardings.

When first interviewing Caronello and rigger Vandermeer, we needed a warm place to sit and talk about the job they do so we slipped into the sales office – a place construction workers have no reason to walk into with their muddy boots.

sophie showing

Ryan Vandermeer on the left along with John Caronello  and Paradigm sales agent Sophie look over the model of the development site.

Crane operator Caronello and rigger Vandermeer had never seen the model of the site – all they see are the drawings that indicate where the forms are going to be set up for concrete pours and where the steel beams have to be placed so that they can be bolted down tightly.

John was delighted at what he saw when Sophie, the sales agent on duty when we dropped in, explained how the buildings were going to be set on the site and how it all comes together.

Interesting that highly skilled construction workers would move tonnes of material around a construction site and get it to exactly where it is supposed to be with no mistakes and no injuries to anyone on the site don’t have the time to look at the model and see what they are building – and making sure they get it right.

Yards away from the cranes and the excavators and the big dump trucks there are sales agents’ explaining how the community being built is going to work and where all the amenities are going to be.

The construction crews arrive early in the morning and leave at the end of the day tired and ready for the drive home – looking over models of a building isn’t something they have much time for – they build.

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1 comment to Crane operator and his rigger get a close up look at the Paradigm site under construction on Fairview

  • Steve

    “but traffic moves along Fairview at a pretty swift pace”

    Once this latest venture into the over-crowding of Burlington is complete, it should fix that “pretty swiftly” problem.