[Halifax] QE II Health Sciences Centre | ? | 14 fl | U/C

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by MastClimberPro

Most or all of the Atlantica Hotel across the street is apparently booked out by that project for trades and management travelling here to work. I also hear a rumour that they're looking into the possiblity of putting a cruise ship in the harbour for workers as things ramp up. (something simlar is happening in Squamish BC)

Just as I suspected back on Feb 20. The Atlantica just make sense, and its a short walk and boot in the butt to get guys to work on time. Cruise Ship food might be better.

[AnotherNorthender]

I was walking by site yesterday and the mast of the first tower crane was erected. I'm excited to see the next 3 cranes go up!

[JET]

I was at the HI today for an appointment. At the registration kiosk, and in the clinic I was offered a card to have free parking. I was there for 3 1/2 hours, and the exit kiosk said it was $14, which was cancelled by the card. Seems to working well for patients, not sure what staff have available.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by JET

I was at the HI today for an appointment. At the registration kiosk, and in the clinic I was offered a card to have free parking. I was there for 3 1/2 hours, and the exit kiosk said it was $14, which was cancelled by the card. Seems to working well for patients, not sure what staff have available.

This makes me think about taxable benefits. If you are given free parking, the price of it goes onto your income taxes. But I don't think this is fair for service workers; the market price is often set by the people using the services, and in the case of healthcare it's not a "nice to have" and it seems silly to charge nurses based on what people visiting their sick relatives would pay.

Another part of it is that Halifax clearly needs better transit with the hospitals being major hubs in that network. It's not adequate to take a milk run bus in from the suburbs to downtown then transfer to a low frequency second bus going to the destination. By the time this complex opens, Robie will justify something like high capacity buses or streetcars running down dedicated lanes (with the 4-lane expansion done) every 10 mins. The suburban routes would then connect to that corridor and another one serving downtown. There should be multi-unit housing affordable on a single nurse's wage directly on the transit corridors.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by JET

I was at the HI today for an appointment. At the registration kiosk, and in the clinic I was offered a card to have free parking. I was there for 3 1/2 hours, and the exit kiosk said it was $14, which was cancelled by the card. Seems to working well for patients, not sure what staff have available.

The parking is the only thing about clinic appointments there that sort of works if you can get the clinic to give you an exit pass, which is not always easy to find. Unfortunately the rest of the clinic experience there as a patient is absolutely awful. The new parkade connects via a poorly-designed and difficult steeply-angled pedway that is challenging for many patients and makes one wonder what the engineers were thinking. And even though the registration kiosks are the same old touchscreen ones that used to be on the Robie St end before the construction they no longer actually seem to work much of the time and require you to line up and wait to deal with staff there in the lobby. Not at all good for those with physical challenges. Clearly nobody thought out the patient experience. I believe parking is charged at $6/hr.

[AnotherNorthender]

Does anyone know if Synergy formwork is hiring local form workers, or if they're bringing in crews from Quebec? I don't fully understand how the union works in terms of bringing in out of province workers.

I started thinking about the LOA that taxpayers may be footing the bill for on this project. I work on a fairly large project in Halifax (not the hospital), we're getting quotes from Quebec/Ontario and on a pure scope of work basis they are lower than local trades, but factoring in their LOA they are beyond local pricing. For a $900k scope, $600k was designated as construction costs and $300k for LOA. If Synergy is bringing in crews from Quebec, i don't think i want to see that LOA bill...

On another tangent, I'm fairly new to the industry, but we are seeing more and more trades from outside the Maritimes bidding work, specifically from the Toronto area. They are indicating a major slow-down in work and are trying to pick up work in Halifax/Maritimes. I'm sure to a certain extent crews have always travelled, but has anyone else seen an uptick in Toronto based companies bidding work around here?

[kph06]

The crane base for a third crane has been set.

[kph06]

The third crane is going up today, the 4th one will go up next week. This third crane looks like it will be set quite tall too as it has a number of sections of the reinforced, larger base. It looks like a crawler crane is being used for the setup, likely due to height, but is fairly unusual for tower crane setup here lately.

[terrynorthend]

Originally Posted by kph06

The third crane is going up today, the 4th one will go up next week. This third crane looks like it will be set quite tall too as it has a number of sections of the reinforced, larger base. It looks like a crawler crane is being used for the setup, likely due to height, but is fairly unusual for tower crane setup here lately.

I see the tower rising this morning from my vantage in Woodlawn. It's already taller than the largest of the first two cranes!

[DT Hfx]

QE II cranes by DwN~toWN Halifax, on Flickr

[DT Hfx]

QE II cranes 2 Aug 2025 by DwN~toWN Halifax, on Flickr

crane gathering under the moon

[q12]

one of the four tower cranes in place is 'one of the tallest free-standing cranes in North America'

Excavation Complete on Halifax Infirmary Expansion



September 3, 2025

Excavation for the QEII Halifax Infirmary acute care tower was completed today, September 3. The project will significantly boost the region’s ability to deliver medical care and health services.

Since May 2024, 543,000 tonnes of soil and rock were excavated and removed, with a 10-metre deep footprint that is 260 metres long by 92 metres wide.

Structures were also demolished and removed from the site, including the former parkade and main entrance, both on Robie Street. The construction site is at Bell Road between Robie and Summer streets.

“Completion of the excavation phase marks a significant milestone in our commitment to improve access to care for Nova Scotians,” said Michelle Thompson, Minister of Health and Wellness. “This expansion will greatly enhance our ability to deliver critical services such as emergency care, surgery and trauma care. With excavation complete, we are now poised to move forward with the foundation and structural work, bringing us closer to delivering this vital new healthcare facility.”

With site excavation complete and four tower cranes in place – including one of the tallest free-standing cranes in North America – the focus will shift to constructing the foundation and building, along with mechanical and electrical work.

The ground floor level on the Robie Street side of the project will begin by the end of the year, with the facility opening to patients on schedule in the fall of 2031.

When complete, the new acute care tower will add 216 beds, 16 operating rooms, a 48-bed intensive care unit and an emergency department that is nearly twice the size of the current one. It will also have modern equipment, a satellite diagnostic imaging department in the emergency department, new and upgraded lab spaces and additional treatment spaces.

https://buildns.ca/news/excavation-complete-on-halifax-infirmary-expansion/

[terrynorthend]

AllNS dug a little more detail here. The tallest crane on site is 110 metres! (Almost taller than the new building on the Arm)

Not sure why they set these so tall, rather than start low and grow?

Originally Posted by q12

one of the four tower cranes in place is 'one of the tallest free-standing cranes in North America'



https://buildns.ca/news/excavation-complete-on-halifax-infirmary-expansion/

[kph06]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

AllNS dug a little more detail here. The tallest crane on site is 110 metres! (Almost taller than the new building on the Arm)

Not sure why they set these so tall, rather than start low and grow?

It does seem a bit odd to be so high, I'm not sure if it's to work with neighboring buildings to get full site coverage. The J2K site across the street has a base in, that crane will have to be coordinated to not be in conflict too. I also wondered if it was to make a permanent exclusion zone for the Life Flight landing.

The bottom sections are more substantial than normal to allow for the high, un-braced height. That's a long climb every day for the operator, and may open up more days where fog may halt lifting operations.

[Keith P.]

A 6-year build seems rather long even for something of this scope.

[q12]

https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2025/09/03/halifax-infirmary-acute-care-tower-excavation-milestone

[terrynorthend]

There is a great view of how tall these cranes are from Dartmouth, traveling west on Ochterloney towards the Harbour. Not just these, but the new buildings/cranes on Gottingen and the 32 storeys being built behind Queen Square.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

There is a great view of how tall these cranes are from Dartmouth, traveling west on Ochterloney towards the Harbour. Not just these, but the new buildings/cranes on Gottingen and the 32 storeys being built behind Queen Square.

The transformation around the city over the next couple years is going to be very dramatic. It's not as obvious now but it will be when these buildings are closer to being topped out. Skylines and appearance aside these buildings will have a big impact on population density and hopefully housing availability.

[someone123]

There is an update video:

• Video Link

An image from the video:

[Granitecoast]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

AllNS dug a little more detail here. The tallest crane on site is 110 metres! (Almost taller than the new building on the Arm)

Not sure why they set these so tall, rather than start low and grow?

Such a tall crane will be a hazard for the helipad operations on the adjacent Halifax Infirmary hospital.