It was just over one year ago, on April 16, 2003, that True North officially kicked off construction of Winnipeg's largest downtown building project in several decades with an official groundbreaking ceremony in what was then an enormous hole in the ground. What a difference a year makes. Now officially named MTS Centre, the new state of the art theatre for sport and entertainment is more than 70% finished. There are 206 calendar days for the construction workforce to complete the building for its opening in November of this year.

The impact of the architectural design of the exterior is now clear to people passing by around the outside of MTS Centre. An aerial view of the site shows that the 93,000 square feet of roof area over the building is now complete closing in the outer building envelope. Work is progressing on the exterior walls on all four sides. Many of the finished metal wall panels are installed along Donald, Graham and Hargrave. Window frames and glass windows are in place at street level. In the next two weeks the glass panels that will make up the impressive wave of glazing along Portage Avenue will start to appear.

The pace of work toward finishing the interior spaces of MTS Centre is also visibly picking up. At the event level, about twenty feet below the street, the final three feet of gravel is being removed from the bowl in preparation for pouring the structural slab for the ice rink next week. On the main concourse the steel framing for the concessions, food services and washrooms is taking place. At the suite level, which connects into the downtown skywalk, mechanical and electrical rough-in work continues around the steel stud walls that outline the exact location of the Centre's fifty private suites. Similar activity is going on around the upper concourse. High above the construction action, overlooking the spaces of the massive seating bowl and the event floor far below, the steel deck and concrete slab floor of the new press box is also taking shape.

The skywalk bridge over Donald Street connecting MTS Centre to the Somerset office building and Radisson Hotel will be put into place this weekend. Donald Street between Portage Avenue and Graham Avenue will be closed to traffic from 7:00am Saturday, April 24 until Sunday, April 25 at 5:00pm while cranes hoist the structural steel for the bridge into place. The bridge over Hargrave is the final of the four skywalk connections to be completed.

For more information contact:
Jim Millican
Senior Vice President Marketing and Communications
True North Sports and Entertainment Limited
(204) 989 - 6813

[MTS Centre Construction Updates Archive]