Royal Ontario Museum Renovation Project

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Owner/Operator: Royal Ontario Museum
Architects: Hariri Pontarini Architects
Construction Management:  Eastern Construction

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a landmark destination for Ontarians and visitors to Toronto alike, housing six million artifacts and receiving roughly one million visitors a year.  Since the construction of the original building in 1914, major construction projects and renovations have taken place from time to time which have expanded both gallery and curatorial spaces. The last major expansion was the striking Daniel Libeskind-designed addition of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal in the mid 2000s,

The OpenROM Project continues the tradition of expansion and amplification of the ROM, and involves the construction of a new North Entrance canopy and other modifications to the existing Crystal structure, including  new infill spaces and an Oculus Opening. These changes to the Crystal entail various structural modifications to the existing structure at different floor levels. A new below-grade pump room a new at-grade outdoor structures such as a fountain and stair are planned as part of the project.

Potential Impact on Museum Artifacts of Construction Vibration

Many of the museum’s artifacts are located close to the construction works on various levels of the building. As a result, there is a need for a vibration assessment, a vibration monitoring plan, and vibration monitoring during the construction process at locations throughout the affected areas of the museum. In addition, the new pump room and outdoor structures will be constructed relatively near existing Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subway tunnels.

HGC Noise Vibration Acoustics was previously involved with vibration assessment and vibration monitoring at the ROM during the 2018 construction project for the Performance Terraces and Garden Area on the north side of museum. As part of that, vibration monitoring was undertaken by HGC in many of the same areas affected by the current project.

Construction Vibration Assessment

For this current ROM expansion project, HGC was initially contracted to develop a construction vibration assessment and monitoring plan. To start HGC reviewed relevant available information, including site plans, survey drawings, geotechnical report, and architectural and structural drawings for the existing building and proposed alterations.

Following this review, HGC met with ROM or other project staff to clarify the proposed construction activities related to demolition, shoring, excavation, construction of foundations, compaction, structural modifications, and other relevant activities.

At the same time, various Museum artifacts were identified that would  be most exposed to construction vibration, and the sensitivity of potentially-affected artifacts were categorized.

HGC reviewed vibration criteria previously proposed for the ROM’s buildings and collections, together with other standards and references in common use which deal with construction vibration. On the basis of this review, cautionary and stop-work vibration criteria was established.

Construction Vibration Monitoring Plan

Based on the review of the proposed construction activities, the site geometry, the nature of the most affected collections, and the proposed vibration criteria, a Construction Vibration Monitoring Plan was prepared and submitted to the ROM. This report contained specific recommendations pertaining to automated vibration monitors, including the type, quantity, locations, duration of deployments, and the notification system.

The Plan specified vibration monitoring for a number of locations within the ROM, protecting artifacts, the heritage ROM buildings, and also a TTC subway tunnel located in close proximity to some of the work

Construction Vibration Control Plan

A vibration control plan was also be prepared early in the project process. This plan outlines the vibration alerting procedure, and the various responsibilities for reacting to such alerts. The plan discusses when construction vibration occurrences need to be reviewed in detail, and when pausing of construction activities would be warranted. The plan also describes good-practice techniques and procedures that can be considered and could be adopted by the contractor to minimize and reduce construction vibration in the event of vibration exceeding the criteria being detected.

Procurement, Installation, Configuration & Removal of Vibration Monitoring Equipment

With the Vibration Monitoring Plan in place, HGC monitored vibration for a brief period of time at each of the selected monitoring locations prior to the start of construction to establish baseline conditions.

HGC then installed vibration monitoring systems at appropriate unobtrusive pre-determined locations which can suitably represent vibration at key areas and artifacts.  This included the installation of communications equipment, the use of a vibration data management portal, and automated alert notification system. The data from the automated monitors is reviewed regularly.

Vibration consulting services being undertaken include:

• Development of a Construction Vibration Assessment and Monitoring Plan
• Development of a Construction Vibration Control Plan
• Review of vibration potentially impacting the museum artifacts
• Identification of “vibration zone of influence”
• Attended and Automated Construction Vibration Monitoring
• Project compliance with Toronto’s Construction Vibration By-Law (514-2008) and Article 5 of Chapter 363 of the Toronto Municipal Code.