I had heard since RBC is moving the focus has changed, presumably from a renovation to a re-build.

Have a look folks; Compilation Thread - Page 11

You can see a bit of the ground floor taking shape in this picture. The brick buildings seem to go pretty nicely with the glass. I agree that right now the taller southern end of the building of the site seems to add a bit of interest, but the final product should look pretty good.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8497/8...fb0c42a7_c.jpg
Source

It is great to see the lower exterior being finished.

Here is a closeup view of the exterior work from the RBC Waterside facebook website - http://www.facebook.com/pages/RBC-Wa...=photos_stream

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...95525052_n.jpg

One from this afternoon by me:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8...20d9420a_b.jpg

Weekly updates are back after four weeks:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8083/8...f2bdc5e6_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8...a1590d77_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8359/8...2e286c86_b.jpg

Is the interior of that old red brick building being put back to its original state or is it lost forever?

A very gracious welcome back!!! Missed your updates!

Thank you! I look forward to adding the TD Tower Expansion and The Nova Centre to my regular updates this year!

The curtain wall is looking good - good contrast of colours from the old to new. That or my eyes are playing tricks :)

Lol, but that woud be impossible?

Its okay, the glass is nice for the colour... just wish it was more blue than green.

Only the facades will remain. The interior is all new construction (based on past pictures) and the previous buildings will no longer be separated internally. There are interior construction photos on the Waterside facebook webpage - http://www.facebook.com/pages/RBC-Wa...08681372508949.

It is good to see SekishikiMeikaiHa's pictures again. I hope that you are becoming re-climatized to the colder weather.

I was driving north on Water St the other day and it is remarkable how different this site now looks from the way it used to be. The size of the building really makes the block seem much more impressive and "downtownish".

The Nova Centre should have a similar impact on nearby blocks.

I think the whole downtown will seem more consistently built up and cohesive in a couple of years. A lot of the shabbiness is disappearing.

I see. Facade jobs are necessary, but is NOT preservation. I just hope that some buildings get saved. I always thought that old Imperial Oil building would be one of the survivors. That said, this looks like a good addition.

The Imperial Oil building was one of the buildings that in the beginning was sort of a catalyst for this project, the "guts" of the building were no good, the weight of the structure was on old rotten wooden piles in very porous saturated ground, I was chatting with Ben McCrea at one point a few years ago.. about when they closed the bar in there, when we experienced really high tides and bad weather, the basements of those old buildings along Lower Water St. had a tendency to flood, and this was a common thing, for a very.. very long time. They could've just said "screw it" and ripped everything down due to the damage, so the fact they've kept the facades is fantastic, they'll look good, and the integration into the new building is going to keep them safe, stable, and looking good for years to come.

I always thought that the Imperial Oil building was a particularly good candidate for facade preservation because of its flat roof and cornice. Did its interior have any heritage value?

I heard a similar story from O'Carroll's (which was the last tenant of the building) staff when I first heard of this project. They talked of the flooding and structural issues that would cost too much to repair. So, although I was sad to see these old buildings gutted as I enjoyed the atmosphere of the original buildings, it sounds like they were near the end of their useful life and facade preservation is the better alternative to just tearing them down (which could have been an option, I believe).

Looking forward to this being finished so I can visit O'Carroll's once again... :cheers: ;)

Yeah, I didn't know that stuff. (Of course they still could've been saved if enough money was spent, but obviously a line has to be drawn somewhere.)

Generally I'm of the opinion that just about well-built old structure can be saved, and in Halifax, where we've lost so much, SHOULD be. But there are always exceptions, and I definitely concede that given all those issues, this might've been one. As someone else said below, it's so difficult to know when to believe developers, because so often in Canada we hear that a structure is worthless and beyond saving, only to hear a different opinion from the city itself. Or one building owner will claim a structure is worthless and beyond saving, and then pass it off to another, who actually ends up restoring the thing.

BTW, here's a brief history on the Imperial Oil building for those interested.

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-...u.aspx?id=3209