Interior work to commence this summer
(CALGARY, AB) • Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) – lead developer of the New Central Library and steward of the East Village vision – is delighted to announce another major milestone in construction of Calgary’s New Central Library, which remains right on track for its scheduled opening in Q4, 2018.
“If you’ve been following the progress and highlights of the New Central Library construction program, you’ll know that a lot of the big news is, well…BIG news,” says Kate Thompson, VP Projects, CMLC. “It all started with a huge feat of engineering to encapsulate the LRT tracks that transect the library site. It later involved the shipment and placement of massive steel beams, the largest measuring 75 feet (23 metres) in length and tipping the scales at around 100,000 pounds (45,000 kilograms). And on Friday, we began pouring a volume of concrete that’s simply staggering.
“To complete the structure’s top level – Level 5 – and the library’s rooftop, our construction crew spent nearly 14 hours pouring 500 cubic metres – that’s 2.8 million pounds! – of concrete.”
To give you a sense of scale, consider this. With the faucet turned fully on, the average garden hose puts out about 90 litres of water a minute. To fill a 500-cubic-metre tank, you’d have to keep that water running non-stop for more than 92 hours…nearly four full days!
Following this monumental concrete pour, the final steel beam of the library’s fifth and final truss system was hoisted into place on Sunday, May 7.
“This is the same beam that more than 700 Calgarians inscribed with colourful words, lyrics, poems, names, drawings and messages of hope when we laid it out of 8th Avenue SE beside the library site on March 21,” says Susan Veres, CMLC’s Senior VP of Strategy & Business Development. “Now the beam has been lowered into its place within Truss 5; our messages being forever cast and embedded within the structure of the building for future generations of Calgarians to appreciate.”
Beyond the fascinating construction facts and feats of engineering magic, the weekend’s construction activities solidified the transition from construction of the New Central Library’s structural elements and exterior casing to the next exciting phase of development: interior construction and finishing.
Later this month the Western Red Cedar wood soffit underbelly will be installed, the building’s curtain wall will receive its final pieces while work will continue on the building’s mechanical and electrical systems. Thereafter the final phase of construction and finishing – drywall, millwork, paint, flooring and so on – will get underway and is scheduled to take approximately 16 months to complete.
For more information about CMLC and its redevelopment successes in East Village, visit www.calgarymlc.ca.
For more information about the New Central Library, visit yycnewcentrallibrary.com.