Year one of construction down, two more to go!

Engineer Peter Tsekouras: “The start of the building envelope is an important part of the construction process as it marks the beginning of the separation of the interior and exterior environments of the building, acting as an outer shell to protect the indoor and help with climate control.”

Now in its second year of construction, progress on the new health complex in west St. Catharines continues to advance at an aggressive pace.

If you have driven past the construction site located at First Street and Fourth Avenue, you have been witness to the outstanding progress; it’s very easy to get a feel for the entire outline of the building.

With elevations of poured concrete hitting the fourth and fifth levels, the month of May saw the start of the creation of the building envelope, which will eventually enclose the shell of the building.

“The start of the building envelope is an important part of the construction process as it marks the beginning of the separation of the interior and exterior environments of the building, acting as an outer shell to protect the indoor and help with climate control,” says Peter Tsekouras, an engineer on the project.

“Once the building envelope is complete and watertight early next year, we will be able to start work on the interior finishes, which is the most time-consuming part of any construction project,” says Peter. “This also protects the work environment from the outside elements, which is especially important for working conditions in the winter months and for inclement weather.”

The majority of the outer skin of the building is composed of pre-cast concrete panels which have been in production for months now. These have begun to be placed across the façade.

Materials native to Niagara

“We selected the materials based on building performance requirements and aesthetics and in the end decided on a few different colours and finishes destined for specific areas of the exterior,” says NHS Chief Planning and Development Officer Gloria Kain.

“The finishes we selected are in line with our premise to use materials native to Niagara to enhance the exterior and tie the architecture and imagery to other iconic buildings throughout the region,” says Gloria.

While work progresses on the building, plenty of work is always going on behind the scenes. Among other things over the summer months, the new health complex project management team is working on timelines to create tender documents for the equipment procurement phase to outfit the  new health complex.

“As has been the case with key aspects of the project to date, there will be various milestones during the equipment procurement process,” says NHS Co-ordinator of Redevelopment and Clinical Planning Maria Vuono. “Key milestones will involve the transparent process of tendering 17 major equipment packages up until December 2011.”

Installation of the 25,000-plus equipment items will take place between September 2011 and November 2012. Soon after, the facility will reach its substantial completion date of November 26, 2012.

“This date marks the formal end of construction when PCL will hand us the keys to the new facility,” says Gloria.

“Following this, there will be a transition period which builds in contingency for the holiday season, along with extensive staff training and moving of equipment to ensure that the health complex is fully operational and ready for patients on move day, which will be in the spring of 2013.”  «