I totally agree. St. John's always does things for the here and now and not for the future. Same thing with Mile One. That place should have been built to hold a minimum of 10,000. The road systems are the same…built of the now and not for the future. I am sure the expanded convention centre will outgrow itself in no time if our city keeps growing like it is now. That Halifax NOVA Centre looks stunning.

There were alot of limitations on this job that did not allow for higher and bigger, building. Some such as the existing building doesn't not have the loading capacity for another floor, the expansion area can not go out in to the road any further in any direction without getting rid of the road. This is also because of a existing duct bank that could not be moved. I can honestly say i know the inside and out of this project. There are some design things i did not like but im pretty sure they are going after a look that represents the "Welcome to St. John's" signs on the highway with the colorful little house looking things on it well thats what those tip out looking areas are supose to represent. Ether way still got 2+ more years before we see the final product.

Thanks for the insight! I know that there are always multiple sides to a story (/project) and we can't always see the full process, so it's nice to have someone explain some of the reasoning for size and height.

Oh I have faith that the final product will turn out great, but I was just wondering why they capped the extension off at 3 stories.. Do you know of any limitations/ reasons why they didn't make the extension portion taller with future demand in mind? Or use the piece of land to profit the city by building a hotel or office atop the expansion?

I Appreciate your knowledge on the matter!!

I am not 100% sure why they didnt go three stories on the extension, technically there is a 4th floor in the new expansion which would be a "Walk of fame" over the new conference area, which then leads into the new skywalk from the convention center to the delta (Not sure if the sky walk is in the build, there were talks of taking it out). I was part of the structural team that design the convention center, no longer with them so not up to date on any changes after award. But definitely going to be a great update to whats there now.

Any updates on this one? I'm making a thread specifically for convention centres in the Canada Section.

Construction is chugging along. Here is a link to a live webcam (not a very good angle) and photos (although not very up to date):

http://www.stjohns.ca/media-release/...e-construction

Here's a video of the inside of the new convention centre.

• Video Link
http://destinationstjohns.com/articl...ife-virtually/

Looks good. For a building that's not very old it's pretty outdated inside with a pink and green colour scheme.

Here is a virtual tour of the convention centre posted by Destination St. John's on twitter. Pretty cool.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2drcO00...ature=youtu.be

They have started to install the coloured panels on the exterior of the convention centre this week. Most of the glass has also been installed. Over the next month or so we will really get to see how this will look and tie into the area.

The exterior is really starting to take shape although I’m still not thrilled with the material. There may be valid reasons for such materials, durability, low maintenance, and perhaps lower cost, although at $60Mil for the makeover I don’t think cost was a consideration.

I thought at first that they would retain the brick on the original structure but I see that they have stripped the remaining brick off and are continuing to bring the new look around the back.

As for “tying into the area” I guess the colored panels on JAG would give an indication of where the design style might be going for this area. Let everything to the east retain a bit of a heritage look but let’s try to make “Downtown West” the new modern “high rise” business core…one can only hope.

The entire intersection of New Gower/Waldegrave/Barters Hill will be closed on Sunday to allow for construction on the Pedway. Looks like most of the support structures are already up on the corners of the intersection by Ultramar and the Delta.

http://www.stjohns.ca/public-advisor...vebarters-hill

Art
 

The convention centre is now opened, with official opening to come next month. Here are some photos and a video:

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Loca...rst-visitors/1

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...pens-1.3564989