BUILDINGS
Building at Toronto’s Fort York
A national historic site in downtown Toronto — Fort York, the military birthplace of the city with buildings dating from 1812 — is being expanded with a dramatic new visitor centre. The centre is being constructed directly beside the Gardiner Expressway and was designed to engage with that monolothic structure, as well as Garrison Common to the north. The centre also sits on what was once the shoreline of Lake Ontario and has a long weathering steel facade that creates a new “escarpment.”
The design was selected in a national competition and is by Patkau Architects of Vancouver with Kearns Mancini Architects of Toronto. Read Jones Christofferson are the structural engineers, Integral Group are the mechanical-electrical engineers, and MMM Group are site engineers. The $18-million, 22,000-sq.ft. multi-purpose building is due for completion in 2014.
BUILDINGS
Government spends
on National Historic Sites
The federal government renewed its commitment to funding for National Historic Sites at the end of January. Through Parks Canada’s cost sharing program, the government reimburses non-profit, aboriginal groups, and other levels of government half the eligible costs for preserving sites, up to $100,000 per project. Since 2009, almost $17 million has been spent on 115 sites.
Among a dozen projects across the country that recently received funding is one to restore a chimney on the east elevation of St. Patrick’s Basilica in downtown Montreal. This huge stone church was built in the 1840s in the French Gothic Revival style. The pastor of the church said the financial support was “a true god-send.”
Other projects on the fund list include the uniquely round St. George Anglican Church in Halifax, the Barkerville mining site in Williams Creek, B.C., and the No. 3 Coal Mine site in the Drumheller Valley of Alberta.
COMPANIES
SNC-Lavalin says it
remains Montreal-based
SNC-Lavalin announced major organizational changes in January, including the creation of a new “Resources and Environment Group” that will be the largest business unit in the company. It will combine the hydrocarbons and chemicals, mining and metallurgy, environment, and water divisions.
The president of this new group is based in London, U.K. He is Neil Bruce, formerly executive director and chief operating officer of AMEC.
The executive vice-president of SNC-Lavalin’s new Global Operations group, Christian Jacqui, is also based in London.
CCE magazine asked whether these changes mark a major shift for SNC-Lavalin away from Montreal as the hub of the company’s activities. The senior vice-president of communications, Leslie Quinton, replied: “SNC-Lavalin is a global company with its roots in Quebec and we remain Montreal-based. We are enormously proud of our heritage and the part it plays in who we are today and will be in the future.”
Among other announcements, Patrick Lamarre has resigned as executive vice-president of Global Power.
The corporate changes are being put in place by the president and chief executive officer, Robert Card, who joined the company from the U.S. last August.
AWARDS
Stantec, Dillon, TMIG, R.V. Anderson win for infrastructure
The Ontario Public Works Association gave out its Project of the Year awards in January. Winner in the environment category ($10+ million) was the Real Time Control and Flow Regulator project for the City of Ottawa by Stantec and Doran Construction. Together with BPR-CSO, Stantec designed a system to automate the operation of flow regulating chambers in the city’s combined sewer system. The work included retrofitting six major hydraulic flow control structures along the central interceptor-outfall. Completed in 2010, the project has already yielded drastic reductions in the volume of combined storm and sewer flow discharged to the Ottawa River.
Other OPWA winners include the Wilson Street Reconstruction and Gateway (City of Hamilton/Dillon), Sudbury Wastewater Treatment Plant Lift Station Pump Upgrades (R.V. Anderson), Sherbourne Common (Waterfront Toronto/The Municipal Infrastructure Group), and the Greenway Wastewater Treatment Plant Ash Handling System (City of London/R.V. Anderson).
PROFESSIONAL
Ontario repeals
industrial exception
An important exemption to the Professional Engineers Act in Ontario has been repealed. Starting March 1 this year, anyone doing engineering for a manufacturer’s production machinery or process must be licensed by Professional Engineers Ontario.
PEOPLE
ACEC-BC has
new president
The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – British Columbia (ACEC-BC) has a new president and chief executive officer. Keith Sashaw was formerly the president of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association from 2001 to 2012.
