# The Skyscraper Boom No One is Talking About ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About.webp]] **Creator:** The B1M · **Published:** 2026-07-01 · **Length:** 18:07 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eJcCpoXx50) > Caption source: YouTube English (en-GB) manual captions via yt-dlp (default client) on the first try; a later auto-translated track hit HTTP 429 but was not needed. Section headings follow the video's own chapters. Screenshots were grabbed from the 360p mp4 (format 18, android client). Host **Fred Mills** and interviewee **Nadine El-Gazzar** (architect and associate, Hariri Pontarini Architects) are named in The B1M companion article [Why Canada Is (Finally) Building Supertall Skyscrapers](https://theb1m.com/video/why-canada-is-finally-building-supertall-skyscrapers) by James Rabey (01 July 2026); the captions only say "Nadine". Captions write "sheer walls" for shear walls; the outline uses the correct term. Sponsored by RoomSketcher. Extra footage and images credited to Pinnacle, Hariri Pontarini Architects, Global News, Taiwan News, Dustin Land, Fred Tam, CBC, Stephen Velasco, Foster + Partners, Dillan Payne, JK Liu, Bibi L and Kotsy. ## Outline ### 0:00 Intro - **0:01** **First Canadian Place (FCP)** has been Canada's tallest building since **1975**, looming **298 m** over Toronto for more than 50 years. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0008.webp]] - **0:14** Five minutes down the road, **Pinnacle SkyTower** is getting ready to open as Canada's **first ever supertall** skyscraper (300 m or more). - **0:27** At **352 m** it soars above its aging neighbour and sets a precedent for the city. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0030.webp]] - **0:36** Until 2026 Canada had never had a supertall. Now **11** have been put forward in Toronto, with **three already under construction**. - **0:55** The question: why is Canada suddenly building supertalls now? ### 1:05 Toronto's growth - **1:05** Supertalls date back to 1930s New York and the **Chrysler Building**. Since then **24 more countries** have added them, but Canada has none. - **1:30** Toronto has the **third most skyscrapers in North America** (behind New York and Chicago) and ranks **16th worldwide**; those two US cities have **25 supertalls** between them. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0112.webp]] - **1:53** The answer centres on Toronto's rapid development. As a North American business hub it went through several 20th-century **office building booms**, and downtown densified for a workforce drawn from all over the world. - **2:16** Until recently Toronto had the **fastest-growing population on the continent**, but housing supply couldn't keep up. - **2:30** Workers moved to the **suburbs**, which now sprawl for miles. Commutes became "hellish" because infrastructure investment lagged, leaving people dependent on cars. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0240.webp]] - **2:56** In 2026 Toronto produces about **20% of Canada's GDP** yet can't house some of its residents. Time for a rethink. - **3:23** Billions are going into infrastructure, and now there's a turn toward the skies, which is where SkyTower comes in. #### 3:34 Sponsor: RoomSketcher - **3:34** Most skyscrapers have square floorplans, but SkyTower's is a **12-sided polygon** that maximises views. Fred segues into upgrading his home office. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0346.webp]] - **4:02** Fred mentions writing a *Sunday Times* bestselling book. **RoomSketcher**'s AI tool turns a 2D layout into an editable **3D floorplan** in seconds, with drag-and-drop furniture, 3D walkthroughs and photorealistic images. Free to try via the QR code or description link. ### 5:28 Developing Pinnacle SkyTower - **5:30** The 352 m tower sits on a **podium**, so the tower proper starts at **level 13**. It rises around a robust **reinforced concrete core** supported by **link beams and shear walls**. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0532.webp]] - **5:50** The base is almost rectangular and slims as it rises into a 12-sided polygon. That does two jobs: it looks fantastic, and it handles intense **wind pressures** from **Lake Ontario** and the many tall buildings downtown. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0615.webp]] - **6:23** **Nadine El-Gazzar**: because downtown is dense and changing fast, wind modelling shifts every time a nearby building is approved, so designers have to model for future conditions too. - **6:52** With **10 more supertalls** proposed or underway, future-proofing is hard. Architects went through **70 rounds of drawings** just for the **curtain wall**. - **7:14** Sharp edges create turbulent, swirling wind. The final design uses **12 notched sides** as a diffuser, so gusts flow around the smoothed edges. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0722.webp]] - **7:40** Cold gusts off the lake feel like **−20 °C (−4 °F)**. They get sucked into vertical shafts and push and pull on doors and windows, so every single door was modelled for wind pressure. - **8:09** One fix: staircases split into **four quadrants**, isolated day to day so there's no single shaft for wind. In a fire, when every door must open, **pressure sensors** in the stairs trigger **pressure relief corridors** to balance the pressure. - **8:40** Public and residential floors reach **level 106**. On **level 108** is a **tuned mass damper (TMD)** about **9 m** tall, connected to a **half-metre-deep concrete slab**, acting like a giant pendulum against sway. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0845.webp]] - **9:00** The TMD weighs **500 tonnes**. No crane can lift it in one go, so it's broken into pieces, lifted over several months and reassembled at the top. - **9:28** Toronto development is "a constantly moving feast", and years into construction the team had to make a major change. - **9:50** El-Gazzar: the base fills the entire site (typical in Toronto, maxing out below-grade parking and foundations). The foundation was set for a **95-storey** building, but after excavation and footings were done, the developer decided to add **another 10 floors**. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t0950.webp]] - **10:19** When approved in **2017**, SkyTower was set to be **40 m shorter**. As nearby towers grew taller, **Pinnacle** won approval two years into building for a "growth spurt". - **10:41** That meant months of redesign. The **podium was widened above grade** to spread the base and fix the new **slenderness ratio**, with curved, terracing corners and buttressed corners carrying the form up into the tower. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t1105.webp]] - **11:23** A planned taper on the bottom ten floors was scrapped to keep the tower straight over the extended base. The result: the tallest building in Canada. ### 11:42 Why now for supertalls? - **11:44** The housing crisis and sprawl don't fully explain the timing. Downtown faces the usual lack of space, yet many towers aren't full. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t1235.webp]] - **12:06** **Offices:** after the pandemic Canada tightened **immigration** and its population is now declining. Combined with **work from home**, downtown office vacancy hit **15%** last year versus **2.5%** pre-pandemic. - **12:43** Aging office towers are hard to replace because city **bylaws** required demolished downtown offices to be replaced with offices. That policy has since been relaxed after review. - **13:13** **Condos:** over the last decade they made up **half of all new housing** in the city. Low interest rates, a rising population and rising prices fuelled investor demand through **pre-sales**. - **13:47** Between **2015 and 2022**, units rose more than **40%** on average between investor purchase and resale. - **14:04** After the pandemic, population growth slowed and **interest rates soared**; investor returns crashed and pre-sales plummeted. Towers already in the pipeline kept rising anyway. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t1510.webp]] - **14:32** Developers built very small **micro-units** to hit lower price points. They suit students and temporary residents, not families, and demand dwindled as population fell. - **15:06** The **Bank of Canada** estimates micro-units are **60%** of new apartments coming to market, but only about **30%** of new households would typically suit them. - **15:31** Supertalls are partly a product of the planning and construction surge during and right after the pandemic, now facing very different demands. - **15:49** For developers, more **economic drivers** in one tower means less risk of being stuck with one unfillable asset class. With **18 condo projects cancelled** in the year to January 2026, it's a **mixed-use** world. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t1620.webp]] - **16:10** All three supertalls under construction in Toronto mix offices, apartments, hotels, shops and restaurants. "Land on the ground is expensive, land in the sky is cheaper", plus developers wanting the tallest or flashiest tower. ### 16:44 Toronto's evolving skyline - **16:43** By next year SkyTower should be joined by **Concord Sky**, then **One Bloor West** (formerly **The One**) a year later. Another eight could follow. ![[images/The-Skyscraper-Boom-No-One-is-Talking-About-t1648.webp]] - **17:07** After population policy changes, economic swings and a pandemic, Toronto is following other world cities. Whether the towers become economic successes or "glass boxes that perpetuate the housing crisis", only time will tell. - **17:35** A precedent has been set for supertalls in Canada, and this is only the beginning. - **17:46** RoomSketcher sponsor reminder and a subscribe call for The B1M. ## Things Mentioned ### Buildings & projects - **Pinnacle SkyTower** (Toronto): 352 m, Canada's tallest building and first supertall; podium with tower starting at level 13; reinforced concrete core with link beams and shear walls; 12-sided notched floorplan; 70 curtain-wall drawing rounds; quadrant stairwells with pressure relief; 500-tonne TMD on level 108; approved 2017 about 40 m shorter, raised by ~10 floors mid-construction; designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects for developer Pinnacle. - **First Canadian Place (FCP)**: 298 m, Canada's tallest building since 1975. - **Concord Sky**: Toronto supertall under construction, due about a year after SkyTower. - **One Bloor West** (formerly **The One**): Toronto supertall under construction, due about two years after SkyTower. - **Chrysler Building** (New York): cited as the origin of the supertall in the 1930s. - Toronto skyline: 11 supertalls proposed, three under construction, eight more possible. ### Engineering & design - **Supertall** threshold of 300 m. - **Wind engineering**: modelling for future neighbouring towers; notched corners as a wind diffuser; cold lake gusts (−20 °C / −4 °F) entering vertical shafts. - **Stairwell quadrants** and **pressure relief corridors** with pressure sensors for fire events. - **Tuned mass damper (TMD)**: ~9 m tall, 500 tonnes, linked to a 0.5 m concrete slab, lifted in pieces and reassembled. - **Slenderness ratio**, widened podium, terracing and buttressed corners; scrapped lower-floor taper. - **Curtain wall** system. ### Economics & policy - Toronto: third most skyscrapers in North America, 16th worldwide; ~20% of Canada's GDP; formerly fastest-growing population on the continent. - Post-pandemic **immigration controls** and population decline; **work from home**. - Downtown office vacancy **15%** vs **2.5%** pre-pandemic; office-replacement **bylaw**, since relaxed. - Condos as half of new housing; investor **pre-sales**; 40%+ average price rise 2015–2022; rising interest rates. - **Micro-units**: 60% of new apartments vs ~30% of suitable households (**Bank of Canada** estimate). - **18 condo projects cancelled** in the year to January 2026; shift to **mixed-use** towers. ### Products & sponsors - **RoomSketcher**: AI 2D-to-3D floorplans, 3D walkthroughs, photorealistic renders; free trial. - Fred Mills's book ***MEGA BUILDS*** (linked in the description; Fred calls it a *Sunday Times* bestseller). ### Credits - Companion article on theb1m.com; Get Construction Talking; The World's Best Construction Podcast. - Footage/images: Pinnacle, Hariri Pontarini Architects, Global News, Taiwan News, Dustin Land, Fred Tam, CBC, Stephen Velasco, Foster + Partners, Dillan Payne, JK Liu, Bibi L, Kotsy. ## Biographies - **Fred Mills**: Presenter and co-founder of The B1M; hosts this episode and author of *MEGA BUILDS* (named in the companion article and description). - **Nadine El-Gazzar**: Architect and associate at Hariri Pontarini Architects, the firm that designed SkyTower; explains the wind modelling, stair pressure system and the mid-build height increase. - **James Rabey**: Author of The B1M companion article *Why Canada Is (Finally) Building Supertall Skyscrapers* (theb1m.com, 01 July 2026). - **Hariri Pontarini Architects**: Toronto architecture firm behind Pinnacle SkyTower. - **Pinnacle** (Pinnacle International): Developer of SkyTower, which sought approval to add height two years into construction. - **Bank of Canada**: Canada's central bank, cited for its estimate on micro-units versus household needs. - **The B1M**: UK-based construction and infrastructure video channel. - **RoomSketcher**: Floorplan and home-design software sponsoring the video.