City’s advisers give spectacular building plan unanimous approval
Ashley Ford
Province
Artist’s rendering shows the waterfront public plaza that is part of the plan for the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre
The new Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre on the waterfront has cleared another hurdle with the city of Vancouver‘s approval of the development permit.
The $565-million, 68,000-square-metre project now only has to clear a number of technical design conditions from the city before a final development permitting actual construction of the building is issued.
Larry Beasley, Vancouver‘s director of planning, says he is enthusiastic about the building, despite some reservations from two members of an advisory group, who felt it could have been improved upon.
“It received unanimous approval. It will be an excellent building and will provide a wonderful public meeting and activity place for the people of Vancouver. It’s a pretty spectacular result,” he told The Province yesterday.
He said it will certainly be no black box on the waterfront and will be a very active public place with the seawall, public plaza and the green-living roof. It will be much, much more than just a convention centre.
The two-hectare living roof will be an amazing feature, he says. “In effect it will be creating a nature reserve in the heart of the city, which speaks to what Vancouver is all about.”
The remaining conditions are technical and Beasley expects full approval by the end of the year.
Russ Anthony, president of the Vancouver Convention Centre expansion project, said the approval is an “important milestone for us. We have worked on this for two years and it is good to have this step behind us.” He expects all the major components to be substantially completed by the end of the year.
While the current piling program is on schedule, Anthony said there have been a few “surprises” that have been overcome.
With over 100 years of previous industrial development in the area, it is no surprise the piling program has occasionally run into problems such as old concrete footings. The huge piling effort remains on track for completion by the end of the year. The next major step will be the awarding of the critical contracts for concrete and steel next month or in August. The tenders are already in.
Anthony admitted there is some concern with escalating prices for construction materials and “we are working very diligently to get every cent of value we can.” Financial provisions have been made for such escalation, he said, without saying how much has been set aside.
The new building is on course for its 2008 completion. Then the existing convention centre at Canada Place will undergo a $20-million renovation, with completion scheduled for September 2009.
© The Vancouver
