True North Sports & Entertainment Limited President and CEO Jim Ludlow conducted a guided tour of the massive entertainment centre construction site on Portage Avenue this week for more than a dozen representatives of Winnipeg's electronic and print media. The tour generated coverage in both The Free Press and The Sun, stories on CJOB and CBC Radio and feature reports on CKY, Global and A Channel television news broadcasts.
PCL Constructors Canada Inc. General Project Superintendant John Osadczuk and MTS Centre Sr. Vice President Jim Millican joined Ludlow on the walk-around. The media started by inspected the event level, more than twenty feet below street level where the ice surface will be installed one year from now. The tour progressed to the main concourse at street level and ended several stories above the street where the MTS Centre private suite level will join with and become the new hub of Winnipeg's downtown skywalk system.
Down at the event level tarpaulins now surround the entire lower seating bowl providing the hording that protects the trades building out a variety of rooms and installing electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems. The first entire ring of the pre-cast concrete slabs called the seating stadia are now sitting in place waiting for the future installation of the chairs that fans will occupy in a little more than one year.
Several levels above, more than three quarters of the upper concourse floor has now been poured in place or formed in preparation for pouring. The forming for columns above the upper concourse and the seating "rakers" for the upper concourse stadia are now starting to appear. The concrete ring beam, which will provide the foundation for the gigantic steel roof trusses, is a fast approaching construction milestone. The ring beam is expected to be finished before the Christmas break.
For more information contact:
Jim Millican
Vice President Marketing and Communications
True North Sports and Entertainment Ltd
(204) 989 - 6813, cell 792 - 4145
[MTS Centre Construction Updates Archive]
