Environment actually improved, director says
Ethan Baron
Province
CREDIT: Jason Payne, The Province Construction continues yesterday on the expansion of the convention centre.
Catching crabs at most construction sites would hardly be cause for celebration, but it’s just the opposite for the Vancouver Convention Centre expansion project.
The $615-million, 1.1-million-square-foot project will quadruple the centre’s size, and project managers are taking pains to ensure neighbouring sea life thrives.
“We are not only working in the marine environment in a very sustainable and environmentally responsible way, but in fact, we are improving the environment,” said project director Russ Anthony during a tour of the site yesterday.
Using curtains of bubbles around pile drivers cuts shock waves from the pile driving, preventing sonic harm to fish and other organisms, he said.
A five-metre-deep silt curtain maintains water clarity. Some 3,000 cubic metres of contaminated soil has been dredged out, with the area filled with clean materials. Large stones have replaced fill, providing habitat for marine life and a stormwater outfall has been moved to deeper water.
Juvenile salmon, along with kelp, shrimp, and crabs are expected to benefit from the underwater work.
The convention centre is slated for completion in 2008. A viaduct joining Burrard and Thurlow streets has been raised, and the roadway is now being poured.
About half of more than 1,000 piles are in place, and the rest should be in by the end of May, Anthony said.
The project’s second-annual public meeting takes place today at 3 p.m. at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Project managers and consultants will be on hand to answer questions.
© The Vancouver Province 2005
