The pace of construction activity is now visibly picking up at the site of the future True North Sports and Entertainment Centre. The area has definitely made the transition from the demolition process to become a true construction site. From now until the facility opens in late 2004, these updates will be almost exclusively devoted to the construction process.
Three drilling rigs are in place and 20 of the 221 caissons for the foundation have been drilled. These include two of the caissons that will in the future support the roof of the tunnel that will allow access from street level on Carlton Street passing under Hargrave to reach True North’s loading docks and event floor. Excavation for the tunnel will start following the removal the building on the west side of Hargrave that contained a now abandoned hydro transformer.
There is only one week of clean-up remaining from the seven-month demolition process. The clean up is taking place entirely below ground level in the area that has been excavated. Along the Portage Avenue side of the site, the old concrete footings that supported the foundation of the Eaton’s building are being exposed and hammered out as the excavation of the earth to a depth of nineteen feet below street level continues.
Photographs of the ongoing construction activity can be found on the True North website (www.truenorthproject.mb.ca). The Shaw Cable camera (Channel 11) looks south at the Portage Avenue view of the project while the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation has positioned a web cam (http://www.mpi.mb.ca/cam/cam.html) to document the activity from the Graham Street perspective-looking north.
[MTS Centre Construction Archive]
