After almost six months of construction work on the mammoth below ground event level of the True North Sports and Entertainment Centre, which is mostly concrete, this important foundation level of the building is nearing completion. As the project develops, concrete work continues to dominate the list of site activities.
More than thirteen million pounds of concrete, or about 25% of the total concrete in the finished building, has now been poured in place. The final section of the exterior foundation wall along Donald Street where the temporary ramp for construction vehicles previously stood was poured in place last week. This will now allow forming and pouring of the remaining sections of the main concourse floor at street level to be completed by the end of August.
Other recent progress includes the completion of the floor of the 300-foot long tunnel from Carlton Street down to the event level and the forming for the first seating “rakers” to be erected along the east side of the main concourse. Work is also proceeding on the framing and pouring of columns, stairwells and elevator shafts up to what will become the suite level of the entertainment centre.
True North’s construction manager, PCL Constructors Canada Inc., has divided the work site into four quadrants. Quadrant #1 is on the Graham-Hargrave corner, Quadrant #2 is on the Hargrave-Portage corner, Quadrant #3 references the Portage-Donald corner and Quadrant #4 is adjacent the Donald-Graham corner. Work can generally be seen to be progressing from Quadrant #4 in a clockwise direction around the site.
In the next two weeks, the framing and pouring of the remaining sections of the main concourse floor will be completed. At that time the skeleton of the building will begin to rise up to the True North suite level, which will eventually connect into Winnipeg’s downtown pedestrian skywalk.
[MTS Centre Construction Archive]
