General Updates and News

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Crane base is in for this project! The only vantage point is from the MacDonald Bridge bikeway so I'll try to remember to snap a photo during my commute next week.

As promised.


Photo by Dmajackson. Hosted via Urban_Halifax on flickr.com

[JET]

Heritage Canada The National Trust, lobbies to save Dennis Building:http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scoti...-for-halifax-s-dennis-building-1.2699965

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by JET

Heritage Canada The National Trust, lobbies to save Dennis Building:http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scoti...-for-halifax-s-dennis-building-1.2699965

The government told her it has not reached a decision on the building’s future. It told CBC it could preserve the façade, but create a new interior.

Bull said her group is open to that sort of idea.

They sound more reasonable than the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

The government told her it has not reached a decision on the building’s future. It told CBC it could preserve the façade, but create a new interior.

Bull said her group is open to that sort of idea.

They sound more reasonable than the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia.

They are--they're much more representative of a typic heritage-conservation group, which is why it's too bad we're saddled with the polarizing, NIMBYish HTNS.

[JET]

https://www.heritagecanada.org/en/issues...ast-listings/nova-scotia/dennis-building
"There is no word from the Hon. Maurice Smith on whether or not the mould problem can be fixed, but after years of inadequate maintenance and repair, the building is in poor condition. It was closed earlier in the year due to water infiltration. A structural assessment by Kassner Goodspeed Architects Ltd. in 2010 condemns the building on the grounds that the perimenter masonry walls and windows are in poor condition, despite structurally solid foundations, floors and roof, and without having drilled a number of test holes to confirm interior wall condition.

In June, 2014, the Hon. Labi Kousoulis, the Minister of Internal Services, was quoted in the Halifax Chronicle Herald stating, "The building is way far beyond repair" and that its renovation would not be a consideration for the site's future. Meanwhile, a mold analysis shows that levels are lower than what is found in outdoor air.

HCNT has written a letter to Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil asking that he intervene to ensure a reasonable process of due diligence is followed: that an appropriate structural assessment is undertaken and a Request for Proposals developed to allow qualified developers to come forward with creative solutions for rehabilitation. A qualified restoration architect has offered his services to the Minister to inspect the building, free of charge. So far, the offer has been neither accepted or rejected."

Not as cut and dried as the governmnet has tried to lead us to believe.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by JET

https://www.heritagecanada.org/en/issues...ast-listings/nova-scotia/dennis-building
"There is no word from the Hon. Maurice Smith on whether or not the mould problem can be fixed, but after years of inadequate maintenance and repair, the building is in poor condition. It was closed earlier in the year due to water infiltration. A structural assessment by Kassner Goodspeed Architects Ltd. in 2010 condemns the building on the grounds that the perimenter masonry walls and windows are in poor condition, despite structurally solid foundations, floors and roof, and without having drilled a number of test holes to confirm interior wall condition.

In June, 2014, the Hon. Labi Kousoulis, the Minister of Internal Services, was quoted in the Halifax Chronicle Herald stating, "The building is way far beyond repair" and that its renovation would not be a consideration for the site's future. Meanwhile, a mold analysis shows that levels are lower than what is found in outdoor air.

HCNT has written a letter to Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil asking that he intervene to ensure a reasonable process of due diligence is followed: that an appropriate structural assessment is undertaken and a Request for Proposals developed to allow qualified developers to come forward with creative solutions for rehabilitation. A qualified restoration architect has offered his services to the Minister to inspect the building, free of charge. So far, the offer has been neither accepted or rejected."

Not as cut and dried as the governmnet has tried to lead us to believe.

See, Kousoulis seems genuine about the intent to honour the building's history by carefully dismantling and rebuilding it, etc. (though this won't involved the brick portion, for some reason) but it's baffling why they're not taking up the offer of a free building inspection. Unless they simply don't think there's any point—the minister seems totally convinced that there's no point trying to salvage the building in situ.

But the government's own studies seem to have been crafted with the "take-it-down" directive in mind, and there seems to be some plan at work behind the scenes. It's clear that while the government theoretically plans to retain the most important historical features and rebuild them, it's also clear that there are other imperatives at work for them, which they haven't been at all up-front about those. And the long-term future of the building will be in doubt until we get some more clarity.

[JET]

the day before the NS Heritage Trust was to meet with the minister to discuss some of these questions, the minister announced that the building was going to be demolished. Once a mind is made up, some some effort to try to change it. It's not hard to find an engineer to say that a building is not worth saving, also not that hard to find one to tell you HOW to save one.

[JET]

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/...ate-loans-money-to-pioneer.html?page=all reminds me of the Dennis Building

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by JET

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/...ate-loans-money-to-pioneer.html?page=all reminds me of the Dennis Building

Yeah, well, much as Canadians like to crap on American cities, they tend (nowadays) to be far better at respecting their heritage.

And a key difference is that this Seattle example is privately owned, whereas Dennis is government owned. Kousoulis said that the Dennis is so dilapidated that any private operator would for sure "bring out the wrecking ball" on it, which is contrary to what Waye Mason has suggested on Twitter and on this forum, and kinda just seems like a way to justify the government's dismantle-and-rebuild (hypothetically) approach as more historically sensitive than we could expect from the private sector. Which may not be in the case.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

See, Kousoulis seems genuine about the intent to honour the building's history by carefully dismantling and rebuilding it, etc. (though this won't involved the brick portion, for some reason) but it's baffling why they're not taking up the offer of a free building inspection. Unless they simply don't think there's any point—the minister seems totally convinced that there's no point trying to salvage the building in situ.

A "free" inspection that is done with a slant towards saving it at whatever cost is likely not welcome at this point. The govt position is not unreasonable given the well-documented issues with the structure - however if they just take it down and leave the lot empty for years, that is equally unacceptable.

Many years ago, probably late 1990s, I recall seeing an artist's conception for this entire block along Granville St at provincial Public Works as it was then called. At that time the design had a clone of One Government Place on the Dennis Building site, with an elevated portion above the heritage buildings in the middle of the block (which were retained and I believe incorporated somehow into the development) connecting the new structure to the existing OGP building - not exactly a bridge but rather a 2 or 3-storey section around the 4th or 5th floor that spanned the block to tie the two buildings into one. Not a bad concept as I recall.

[xanaxanax]

Personally I think there should be legislation if a Government body isn't using a building or property for x number of years they have to sell it to a private developer

[kph06]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

As promised.


Photo by Dmajackson. Hosted via Urban_Halifax on flickr.com

First couple sections were up tonight, its the crane from Craigmore.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Yeah, well, much as Canadians like to crap on American cities, they tend (nowadays) to be far better at respecting their heritage.

And a key difference is that this Seattle example is privately owned, whereas Dennis is government owned. Kousoulis said that the Dennis is so dilapidated that any private operator would for sure "bring out the wrecking ball" on it, which is contrary to what Waye Mason has suggested on Twitter and on this forum, and kinda just seems like a way to justify the government's dismantle-and-rebuild (hypothetically) approach as more historically sensitive than we could expect from the private sector. Which may not be in the case.

Even if a private developer WOULD bring out the wrecking ball - the Province is not a private developer. There are varying levels of financial support provided by different levels of government for private citizens/corporations to assist with the maintenance, renovation, and (in some cases) development of registered heritage properties. I assume this is because heritage is recognized as a cultural asset and presumably worth investing in. The first level of investment SHOULD have been not to defer maintenance, but I guess we really can't say much about that now. It does not seem unreasonable to me to expect that the government invest what is required to sustain a significant heritage structure.

Side note: I'm not sure I think it's significant, personally. Maybe because I think it's ugly, and I equate significance with beauty (I know it's wrong - no lectures please). Anyway, enough people who seem to know enough about these sorts of things say that it's significant, so I choose to believe them.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Side note: I'm not sure I think it's significant, personally. Maybe because I think it's ugly, and I equate significance with beauty (I know it's wrong - no lectures please). Anyway, enough people who seem to know enough about these sorts of things say that it's significant, so I choose to believe them.

I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in that. Around here, those so-called experts tend to equate old with significant regardless of the merits of the building otherwise. As a building, I rather doubt the Dennis was well-thought-of even 100 years ago given its interior design. Today, it is a dungeon inside. I'm sure anyone working there over the last 20 years could have filed an occupational health complaint due to the working conditions.

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by kph06

First couple sections were up tonight, its the crane from Craigmore.

Crane was erected today. The mobile crane used is now at 3065 Robie Street. The North End revival has begun!

[Duff]

Here is a picture I took this morning.

[Dmajackson]

From the MacDonald Bridge;


Photo by Dmajackson. Hosted via Urban_Halifax on flickr.com

[mcmcclassic]

I can't remember/find a thread for this one, but here are some photos anyways. The new building on Dal's campus (corner of Summer & University Ave.)

[counterfactual]

A bit of a flip side of issues, here's people rather enthusiastically describing the demolition of a historic building in Ottawa:


Historic Ottawa building is reduced to rubble

OTTAWA - Five seconds and one push of a button. That's all it took to erase 47 years of Ottawa history Sunday morning.

[...]

He's really excited to see how the whole thing works," said Krystal Maher, 32, about her three-year-old son Liam.

"He is really into construction and he calls himself a 'worker man'. This is something that would be cool for him and that he could learn about."

We saw the announcement mid-week in the paper and I thought this would be cool to see," said Don Maher, 59.

"It was fantastic," said Don. "It was a lot louder than I thought it would be."

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/07/20140714-102151.html



Here's a little more background on the building-- a familiar story:

Deconstruction' of historic site another sign of the times

ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/archival-deconstruction-of-historic-site-another-sign-of-the-times

It opened in 1967.

In case you were dozing just there, please allow me to bonk you over the head with that: It opened in 1967.

Is a 40-year-old building at the end of its useful life? Actually, well beyond it, in this case. In 1994, the Citizen

reported that because of “long-term neglect,” a study had concluded the Carling building may not be worth saving.

In other words, a little more than 25 years after it was built, the federal government was already coming around to the conclusion the Carling building, opened in the glow of Centennial year pride, was kaput.

I hear no outrage about the plan, either, another sign we live in a truly reckless age.

[JET]

[QUOTE=counterfactual;6653702]A bit of a flip side of issues, here's people rather enthusiastically describing the demolition of a historic building in Ottawa:


Historic Ottawa building is reduced to rubble




http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/07/20140714-102151.html



Here's a little more background on the building-- a familiar story:

Deconstruction' of historic site another sign of the times



Blowed up real good! History ain't what it used to be