Weather issues not slowing down Veiner Centre
Even severe weather has not affected steady construction progress on the new Veiner Centre.
“Nothing has tripped us up. We’re still on schedule,” said Scott Woodside, facilities project co-ordinator for the city.
With perimeter walls in place, most of the work during winter is taking place inside the building.
“They’ve got a couple tarps over a couple areas. We don’t have the doors yet but we’ve got the frames in. They’re still putting some glass in but most of that is done,” said Woodside.
Most of the interior steel studs are now in place. Drywalling, mudding and taping on the east side of the building is also underway, said Woodside.
“They’re starting on the east half and working their way west through the building,” he explained.
The Veiner Centre, a facility for seniors, was badly damaged during the flood of 2013 which rendered it unusable.
In the next few weeks the construction schedule includes plumbing, ducting and installation of fire sprinklers.
After all the insulation is in place in the next few months, the outside cladding/metal siding will be installed. There is no need to wait for warmer weather for this to begin, said Woodside.
Initially, on a section of the east part of the building, siding will be put in place for approval by the architect, engineers and Woodside. To complete all the outside cladding will take some time, he said.
It is not even a year since work began on this construction project and even Woodside is a little surprised by the swift progress.
“We will be done by summertime,” said Woodside.
Graham Construction is the contractor for the $9.67-million project, which will see 1,400 square metres of remediated space on the main floor of the existing building and the closure of the basement. An additional 600 square metres is being added.
The entire $11.6-million budget for this transformation was approved by council in February 2016. This budget includes $1,325,770 for design/project management/testing and $400,000 for furnishings, fixtures and equipment.