[Halifax] Nova Centre | 65-58-58 m | 16-15-14 fl | Completed - Page 187

fenwick16 · #**3721** Posted **Dec 3, 2013, 8:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ziobrop

I was told, by an architect friend working on the project, that with the exception of the Grafton street portion, the parking slabs were not being constructed to support the load of the concrete and pump trucks.
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This is interesting. Thanks for posting this information.

Looking at the floor plan below, I wonder if all of Grafton Street will be able to bear the load of concrete and pumper trucks? This will be directly over the Exhibition Hall and part of it will be column-free.

If the column-free section of the Exhibition Hall can bear the load of concrete trucks then the supporting structure of the roof (i.e. a section of Grafton Street) might have to be designed like a bridge. This makes me wonder if the retail sections on either side of Grafton Street will be steel frame construction that will be both the retail section walls and roof trusses for the column-free section of the Exhibition Hall? It will be very interesting to see the engineering design that goes into the Exhibition Hall and Ballroom sections because of the large column-free spans.

(the source for both images is http://www.halifax2016.ca/ )

In the image below it appears as though the slanted Ballroom structural members might be steel(?)

Nilan8888 · #**3722** Posted **Dec 3, 2013, 11:33 AM**

Have the latest changes to the design been approved yet? Last word was the government still hadn't signed off.

Ziobrop · #**3723** Posted **Dec 3, 2013, 2:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Looking at the floor plan below, I wonder if all of Grafton Street will be able to bear the load of concrete and pumper trucks? This will be directly over the Exhibition Hall and part of it will be column-free.

If the column-free section of the Exhibition Hall can bear the load of concrete trucks then the supporting structure of the roof (i.e. a section of Grafton Street) might have to be designed like a bridge.

i believe its a thickness/quantity of rebar issue. the parking slabs are quite slender, i would imagine they will be thicker under Grafton street.

I refer you to this post on Structure and this one on 2 way spanning slabs.

beyeas · #**3724** Posted **Dec 3, 2013, 3:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenwick16

This is interesting. Thanks for posting this information.

Looking at the floor plan below, I wonder if all of Grafton Street will be able to bear the load of concrete and pumper trucks? This will be directly over the Exhibition Hall and part of it will be column-free.

If the column-free section of the Exhibition Hall can bear the load of concrete trucks then the supporting structure of the roof (i.e. a section of Grafton Street) might have to be designed like a bridge. This makes me wonder if the retail sections on either side of Grafton Street will be steel frame construction that will be both the retail section walls and roof trusses for the column-free section of the Exhibition Hall? It will be very interesting to see the engineering design that goes into the Exhibition Hall and Ballroom sections because of the large column-free spans.

I am at a conference this week at McCormick Place in Chicago (MonctonRad, I assume you are here too?), and it is pretty impressive to see the exhibit hall here… 2.7 million square feet total space, with 1 million alone in the main exhibit room in the south building!

MonctonRad · #**3725** Posted **Dec 3, 2013, 4:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by beyeas

I am at a conference this week at McCormick Place in Chicago (MonctonRad, I assume you are here too?), and it is pretty impressive to see the exhibit hall here… 2.7 million square feet total space, with 1 million alone in the main exhibit room in the south building!

Nope, I don't like the RSNA very much. A conference with 25-30,000 attendees is too big for me. I much prefer the Roentgen Ray Society instead. Also, Chicago in early December can be pretty frigid. The ARRS in May on the other hand will be in San Diego.

McCormack Place is truly spectacular though, especially the exhibit hall.

beyeas · #**3726** Posted **Dec 3, 2013, 5:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Nope, I don't like the RSNA very much. A conference with 25-30,000 attendees is too big for me. I much prefer the Roentgen Ray Society instead. Also, Chicago in early December can be pretty frigid. The ARRS in May on the other hand will be in San Diego.

McCormack Place is truly spectacular though, especially the exhibit hall.

Actually there is 51,000 people here this year, so it has more than doubled since you last went!
I have never gone to RSNA before this year either! My conference that I prefer to go to every year is ISMRM, which is in Milan this year :-)

Keith P. · #**3727** Posted **Dec 3, 2013, 6:35 PM**

I thought people did not attend conferences any more? The experts, Phil Pacey and Tim Bousquet assured me that was the case.

What is the world coming to?!?

beyeas · #**3728** Posted **Dec 4, 2013, 3:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I thought people did not attend conferences any more? The experts, Phil Pacey and Tim Bousquet assured me that was the case.

What is the world coming to?!?

meh… what do 51,000 people know eh?

fenwick16 · #**3729** Posted **Dec 4, 2013, 3:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by beyeas

I am at a conference this week at McCormick Place in Chicago (MonctonRad, I assume you are here too?), and it is pretty impressive to see the exhibit hall here… 2.7 million square feet total space, with 1 million alone in the main exhibit room in the south building!

Those numbers are mind-boggling. I have been to a few conventions/trade shows in major US cities but I haven't been in the McCormick Place.

fenwick16 · #**3730** Posted **Dec 4, 2013, 3:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ziobrop

i believe its a thickness/quantity of rebar issue. the parking slabs are quite slender, i would imagine they will be thicker under Grafton street.

I refer you to this post on Structure and this one on 2 way spanning slabs.

Thanks for the links Ziobrop. I dreamed as a teenager of designing bridges and skyscrapers but took chemical engineering instead. So I am interested in any structural engineering/construction information.

Thanks again for maintaining your tumblr page - http://fillingtheholehfx.tumblr.com/. I check it daily, and I see today that the dirt ramp is getting smaller. I am looking forward to seeing all the groundwork being completed.

(source: )

fenwick16 · #**3731** Posted **Dec 7, 2013, 4:38 PM**

There are several concrete mixer trucks coming and going today even though it is Saturday - http://www.novascotiawebcams.com/halifax/nova-centre-construction.html. It is great to see such rapid progress taking place.

It appears as though they can build several levels high on the Market Street side before reaching ground level. If the permit and amendment process takes more than the estimated 8 months, maybe they can continue building on the Market Street side to ground level.

fenwick16 · #**3732** Posted **Dec 14, 2013, 12:47 PM**

I notice that there haven't been concrete mixer trucks for the past few days and I assume that it is because it is too cold to pour concrete. Hopefully they will get some warmer spells so they can resume pouring the concrete structure.

teddifax · #**3733** Posted **Dec 14, 2013, 9:55 PM**

I know they are working now in advance of final approval, but when is that supposed to happen?

fenwick16 · #**3734** Posted **Dec 15, 2013, 1:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by teddifax

I know they are working now in advance of final approval, but when is that supposed to happen?

The estimate was 8 months back in mid-July/early August. Based on that estimate it would be around the end of March, 2014. It appears as though they have enough work to continue to the end of March and even beyond if they continue building floor levels on the Market Street side (it appears as through Market Street is around 70 feet from ground level).

I am not sure if it has been determined that an amendment is required (for closing Grafton Street to vehicular through-traffic). If an amendment is required then I hope that the process has been started. If an amendment isn't required then it will just be the usually permit approval and HRM_by_Design Design Review Committee approval of the exterior elements.

fenwick16 · #**3735** Posted **Dec 15, 2013, 2:07 AM**

I hadn't seen this rendering before of the Market Street side. It shows that a large section will be glass on the Market Street side, and it also shows a curved roof style over the column free section of the Ballroom and Exhibit Hall.

(source: Rank Inc. presentation for the October 24, 2013 open house - http://www.halifax.ca/planning/documents/18708PIMPresentationbyApplicant.pdf)

RyeJay · #**3736** Posted **Dec 15, 2013, 5:22 PM**

Thank you, fenwick, for posting this. This has been previously unseen by me as well.

Has anyone come across information about the public displays of art, such as the statues in this rendering? This development has obviously not been a stranger to public consultations. I am curious about final decisions.

The semi-merged towers along Argyle look great, from what we can see of them.

Seeing the back of them helps me appreciate how they really do resemble a ship. The configuration of this project is so oddly arranged, it has to be investigated from all sides in order to get a true appreciation of what's being built. The Nova Centre looks fun and entertaining, and the foot traffic in this area could very well explode.

I hope the naysayers aren't too disappointed with this success.

fenwick16 · #**3737** Posted **Dec 24, 2013, 5:25 AM**

It is good to see that the builders found a short stretch of weather warm enough to pour some more concrete:

(source: Ziobrop's tumblr page from Dec 23, 2013 - http://fillingtheholehfx.tumblr.com/ )

Duff · #**3738** Posted **Dec 24, 2013, 4:33 PM**

I heard from a source that there will be a fourth crane installed but its only purpose will be to offload trucks.

ns_kid · #**3739** Posted **Dec 30, 2013, 2:06 PM**

Lydon Lynch is requesting an amendent to the TD Centre development agreement to allow for a pedway connection to the proposed 22 Commerce Square project across Granville Street.

http://22ndcommercesquare.ca/default.asp?mn=1.44

This is a positive development; in fact, I believe HRM should insist on provision for pedway connections in any new project.

Which brings us to Nova Centre. As far as I can tell, no plans yet presented for Nova Centre include any indoor connection to the rest of the downtown link system, even though the link-connected Prince George Hotel is just across Prince Street. (I expect linking Nova Centre through the Prince George would require significant renovations to the hotel.) There may also be an opportunity to extend the link to the Marriott Residence and/or Cambridge Suites hotels and possibly Neptune Theatre across Sackville Street.

Anyone have different information? There certainly does not seem to be any allowance for underground connections in the subgrade work now underway.

When this project comes back to regional council for final approval in the new year, I hope the downtown link question is something councillors will ensure is addressed fully.

counterfactual · #**3740** Posted **Dec 30, 2013, 2:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ns_kid

Lydon Lynch is requesting an amendent to the TD Centre development agreement to allow for a pedway connection to the proposed 22 Commerce Square project across Granville Street.

http://22ndcommercesquare.ca/default.asp?mn=1.44

This is a positive development; in fact, I believe HRM should insist on provision for pedway connections in any new project.

Which brings us to Nova Centre. As far as I can tell, no plans yet presented for Nova Centre include any indoor connection to the rest of the downtown link system, even though the link-connected Prince George Hotel is just across Prince Street. (I expect linking Nova Centre through the Prince George would require significant renovations to the hotel.) There may also be an opportunity to extend the link to the Marriott Residence and/or Cambridge Suites hotels and possibly Neptune Theatre across Sackville Street.

Anyone have different information? There certainly does not seem to be any allowance for underground connections in the subgrade work now underway.

When this project comes back to regional council for final approval in the new year, I hope the downtown link question is something councillors will ensure is addressed fully.

Great point.