Most powerful pump in Canada sends concrete way up to build Mississauga skyscrapers

The “most powerful pump in Canada” is doing its job to deliver concrete high into the sky to get the latest skyscrapers in Mississauga’s downtown core built.

In a minute-long video posted to social media, City of Mississauga officials noted some of the challenges associated with building highrises that climb 60, 70 and 80-plus storeys into the air above.

“At this site, you’ll find the most powerful pump in Canada sending concrete up from the ground to as high as 81 storeys in the sky,” the video’s narrator says, referring to one of the highrises under construction as part of a multibillion-dollar condo community known as M City that’s rising up at Burnhamthorpe Road West and Confederation Parkway.

Two award-winning 62-storey condo towers dubbed M1 and M2 have already been completed and are occupied as part of the huge development that will number eight towers when finished years down the road.

The 81-storey partially-built tower shown in the video, known as M3, will be Mississauga’s tallest building when finished and the tallest in Canada outside Toronto.

Rendering of M City when completed. The first two towers already occupied, M1 and M2, are at right. (Rendering from developer)

Dealing with high winds, which increase at greater heights, represents another challenge in getting the job done, the city noted in its video.

“It has the potential to make a tower wobble or crack,” the narrator says.

The solution to that, according to the city, is a 705-tonne mechanical device called a tuned mass damper that’s installed near the roof of the rising structure and “works like a giant pendulum to help control swaying.”

Two photos above show components of the powerful pump that sends concrete up the tower.

Launched in 2017, the development’s flagship towers are known as M1 and M2. M3 and M4, the latter to rise 67 storeys into the Mississauga sky, both remain under construction, as does M5, while the community’s last three structures are expected to follow suit in the near future.

Rogers Real Estate Development and Urban Capital are developing the M City community.

Designed by CORE Architects, M1 and M2 towers feature “a distinctive undulating design with seven twisting floor plates, which take turns skewing to each extreme as the buildings rise, stacking in a repetitive pattern,” the developer said earlier.

View from up high as the M3 condo tower is under construction. (Photos above: City of Mississauga video)

M1 and M2 towers, part of the M City community.

(Last two photos/images: Rogers Real Estate Development and Urban Capital)

(Video taken by a drone)