As the College prepares to close for the holiday season, the new campus is starting to look pretty interesting. Some of the roof line details are starting to be visible. We'll have lots of light in our new quarters, thanks to careful use of windows in high places. Staff who have gone on site tours come back oohing and ahhing about how big the space feels and how nice it will be to move out of our current structure. (The roof was leaking again this week, sigh.) The shop wing is closed in now, shingling has started on the roof of the academic wing, and trusses are still being assembled for the student commons area.

Trades Building Looking Massive

As promised, the trades wing has gone up really quickly. In just one week, it has started to look solid and massive. The size of the shops -- with double height and more floor space than the current ones-- is starting to be visible and the carpentry and masonry faculty are getting excited about the possibilities for new projects our current facility won't accommodate.

Trades building girders going up

Yesterday was spent unloading the convoy of transports that delivered the wall system for the trades building. Today they got to work putting up the girders outlining the hallway and the shops.

Shop Walls are Here

A grey Monday morning doesn't usually get people excited, especially during exam week, but I was pretty excited when I arrived at work this morning and saw the convoy of transports waiting to drop off all of the materials for the wall system for our new trades wing. This is a pre-engineered system that is expected to be assembled over the course of this week.

Raising the Roof

The crew has been assembling the trusses into roof units, on the ground, inside the frame of the building, for the last week. Today the crane pulled up at about 11:00 a.m. and work started not long after to put the sections in place. The building started to take on its final shape by afternoon. They're going to have to keep up a brisk pace to get it all in place before the heavy snowstorm predicted for the weekend snows them in.

Trusses have been delivered

Signs of the next stage of construction are evident this week. Truckloads of rafters for the main campus building roof have been arriving over the past few days. The plan is to construct roof sections on the ground, and then bring in a crane to install them. If the weather holds out, the plan is to have the roof shingled by the beginning of the new year.

Student Commons Framed

The spring-like weather we've had lately has been kind to the framers. The outline of the student commons -- home to the cafeteria, lounge, fitness room, and library -- has emerged. Internal walls are going up in the academic wing, and the foundation is almost complete in the trades wing.

Building Takes Shape

I was out this morning looking at the framing, thinking that the library has a lovely bank of windows. and that my office will be rather close to the activity on the new building pad. That's how easy it is to visualize the new campus now that the framing of the walls is so advanced.

The shop wing is not as far along, as they are still doing prep work on the foundation. But the walls will go up quickly once that is done, because they are a pre-engineered system rather than a wood frame construction design.

Walls start to go up

November 2nd marked a new stage in construction -- the team started to frame the walls for the academic wing.
On the 3rd, serious work on forms for the trades wing started, under a beautifully clear sky.

Slab poured in academic wing

On the weekend, while everyone else was busy trick or treating, the construction team was busy pouring the slab in the east end of the academic wing of the new building. Today they are prepping the west end and the service room for pouring soon.

Work has been progressing well through October, but there isn't much visual to report on yet. Connecting services, putting in basic piping, delivering more re-bar, all leading up to getting ready to pour slabs. We're promised a slab and some framing in the coming week for the centre building, which will be the student commons area.

Getting Ready for Framing

In the past couple of rainy weeks, work has continued -- getting ready for the forms for the trades building, preparing the site for the student commons. Next week look for the framing to start. Insulation has been delivered and it's finally stopped raining!

Plumbing!

Most of the construction effort lately has been devoted to preparing the site, dealing with all that rain, and putting in the forms. It looks like we're close to pouring the footings for the trades wing now, and the plumbing is being roughed in for the student commons right now.

Here's a shot of where the classrooms and main entrance will be in the new building. And my new office will be right in front of that red truck!

Starting to take shape

Last week, we held our official sod turning ceremony, and we had a former student build this cool timber frame to hold the signage. You can see what our new campus will look like. In the meantime, they continue to build the foundation and you can see the outline of the walls more clearly every day. Right now, there are trucks out there pumping more concrete!

Walls!

Today, the shape of the building started to emerge -- at least of the trades wing. Soon you'll be able to see the scope of the whole project.

Formwork Started

As the outline of the building takes shape, work has begun on the forms. You can see the rebar in place now and the concrete pumping equipment showed up today. It soon will look like a building!

Drainage!

Work this week has continued on preparing the site for the building footings. Steps are being taken to arrange drainage and to prepare the foundation so that the building will be high and dry when completed.

Foundation is taking shape

Now that the parking has moved to the west, the site preparation for the new building is moving quickly. The foundation is taking shape. Notice that it is going to be significantly above grade so that we can withstand floods. From an aerial view, we can start to see the footprint now!

Gone, gone, gone

One of the most exciting aspects of building a new campus building is that we'll have new, clean, purpose-built workshop spaces. Believe it or not, up until the end of this summer semester, we've been holding our mortar science, and some of our construction carpentry classes, in this tired old portable! We gathered with some champagne (non-alcoholic) to toast the removal of this eyesore this week. In keeping with our sustainable approach to construction, the building was moved to be re-used by a new owner. Video to follow!

More Parking Lot Preparation

It's Friday at 4:45 and we're supposed to be parking in this lot on Monday! Today, the work focused on putting down conduit for the electrical service to the parking lot light standards, and digging up the young trees and moving them to be replanted down at the new entrance area. We had yellow machines of all sizes at work this afternoon.

Building on the Floodplain

All of our campus is on the 100 year flood plain for the Tay River. Because of that, we have had to work closely with the Rideau Valley Consveration Authority in planning our new campus. We're building on the east end of our property to be as far away from the river as we can. The campus will not have a basement, but will have a higher than usual foundation to deal with the possibility of a flood. You can see that the water table is not too far below the surface here.

Trees are Cleared

The trees are all cleared from the front of the campus now, totally changing the appearance from Craig St. Work started up again on the new parking lot, with roadways being dug out, trenches established for the wiring to the new light standards, and the addition of various layers of fill to establish our permeable parking lot. A new entrance is being constructed, and we'll all have to learn to walk a little farther from our cars when the new campus opens up.

Trees coming down

To prepare the site for the new campus building, the land had to be cleared. Friday and Monday have been spent removing trees -- at a breathtaking pace. The work is done by a local company, and the trees will be chipped or milled for use as wood. This is part of our LEED approach to building -- the less fuel we spend moving materials, the better for the environment, and the more we can reuse materials, the less harmful our impact on the environment.

Getting Serious about Construction

Today, Frecon, our general contractor, pulled their construction trailer onto campus. That was a sign that more work is going to start soon on the actual construction of the building. Meanwhile, work continues on the parking lot.