Winnipeg Construction X

[esquire]

Originally Posted by buzzg

If there were a bunch of streetfront retail on St. James, it would probably be a pleasure to walk around.

For sure. That's why I brought up Richmond as an example, it has evolved in that direction from a formerly Polo Park-ish kind of area and it is a pleasure to walk around in nowadays.

[esquire]

In other news, I noticed some work going on with the facade of the Orange Order hall on Princess... anyone know what's happening there?

[Calgarian]

Man, came in here to see some construction pics (I'm doing a couple projects there and wanted some context) and was surprised by all the doom and gloom. I don't think a couple residential towers will be the make or break for a whole part of the city. If the mall is busy and new and decent stores are opening then it should be able to stay the same at the very least. What's it like in Winnipeg these days? seems to be some decent growth in the city, hence why I have some projects there...

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Man, came in here to see some construction pics (I'm doing a couple projects there and wanted some context) and was surprised by all the doom and gloom. I don't think a couple residential towers will be the make or break for a whole part of the city. If the mall is busy and new and decent stores are opening then it should be able to stay the same at the very least. What's it like in Winnipeg these days? seems to be some decent growth in the city, hence why I have some projects there...

What projects are you working on?

[Calgarian]

Condos out in the burbs, can't be more specific though.

[Wolf13]

Goodness, enough with the traffic... traffic is the byproduct. If you buya dog, you get fleas.

Traffic isn't something you decline a project over, it's a problem you seek to fix for after, or help nudge the system in a more functional direction.

Just how we bemoan NIMBY's for wanting to keep every neighbourhood the same, we can't assume traffic will stay the same. Cars are always becoming more efficient, hybrids and electrics more common. While vehicles have gotten bigger, more people have realized their needs are met by subcompacts or scooters.

Or transit, which is constantly debated, and will constantly change.

At the same time, luxury sales are thriving.

Point is that people and the marketplace adjust. If we suddenly are greatly impacting the immediate micro-economy and somebody else's prosperity because we want to keep TRAFFIC the same.... man, that's sad.

Traffic evolves, and it's well set up to evolve at Polo.

Originally Posted by headhorse

portage train/streetcar

exactly. It's right on two of the most major routes in the province.

Originally Posted by ywgwalk

A lot of the people who would live in the Polo area are people that work in the Polo area.

It could very easily become its own hub... lots of retail, immediate to lots of office and industrial, not far from the airport and Centreport, quick access to the wealthy parts south and even North east.

Add more people, factor in there is plenty of vacant or not optimally used land, and much more opportunity could emerge there.

Originally Posted by Biff

Everyone always thinks traffic is bad in this city....until you travel to larger cities and see what bad traffic really is.

I think that multi-unit residential is a great idea (and have always thought so) for Polo Park shopping centre....I would like to see the same thing at St Vital Centre.

Bingo.

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Man, came in here to see some construction pics (I'm doing a couple projects there and wanted some context) and was surprised by all the doom and gloom. I don't think a couple residential towers will be the make or break for a whole part of the city. If the mall is busy and new and decent stores are opening then it should be able to stay the same at the very least. What's it like in Winnipeg these days? seems to be some decent growth in the city, hence why I have some projects there...

The mall will be fine without it, but businesses obviously don't grow by leaving opportunity untouched. It certainly would be a hands down PLUS to everything nearby except traffic, which will evolve or get figured out.

There should be zero doom and gloom here. Residential development should increase, things will improve a bit, maybe more, and life goes on.

[pegcity]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Man, came in here to see some construction pics (I'm doing a couple projects there and wanted some context) and was surprised by all the doom and gloom. I don't think a couple residential towers will be the make or break for a whole part of the city. If the mall is busy and new and decent stores are opening then it should be able to stay the same at the very least. What's it like in Winnipeg these days? seems to be some decent growth in the city, hence why I have some projects there...

Welcome to Winnipeg...doom and gloom central.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Condos out in the burbs, can't be more specific though.

What construction pics are you looking for? If you look on page 1 there are links to most of the developments going on right now.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Condos out in the burbs, can't be more specific though.

Need an architect with lots of experience in that sector and a strong knowledge of the local industry?

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

What construction pics are you looking for? If you look on page 1 there are links to most of the developments going on right now.

Just wanted to see if there are pictures of smaller wood frame buildings under construction. The soils in Winnipeg are shit, so lots of projects use friction piles instead of the footings we use here. Just wanted to see if I could see any of those to see if what me engineer told me is true about that being the most common method.

Originally Posted by trueviking

Need an architect with lots of experience in that sector and a strong knowledge of the local industry?

We're extremely well versed in that sector in Alberta and BC, starting to do more in Saskatchewan and Manitoba now though. Aside from the crap bearing capacity in the local geology, and the obstinate planning department in Winnipeg, it's pretty typical so far lol.

[Biff]

I don't think you could get away with footings here on any building with any size. Friction piles are the norm unless you go tall. Most 3,4,5 storey wood frame buildings all use piles.......as do most houses.

[drew]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Just wanted to see if there are pictures of smaller wood frame buildings under construction. The soils in Winnipeg are shit, so lots of projects use friction piles instead of the footings we use here. Just wanted to see if I could see any of those to see if what me engineer told me is true about that being the most common method.



We're extremely well versed in that sector in Alberta and BC, starting to do more in Saskatchewan and Manitoba now though. Aside from the crap bearing capacity in the local geology, and the obstinate planning department in Winnipeg, it's pretty typical so far lol.

It's all true! Footings are used only for cheap housing, and maybe garages.

You could have saved some $$ and just posted a question here...

(I am a structural engineer, and there are likely others kicking around here, plus architects).

[pmuhar]

Link to city of Winnipeg Residential Infill Strategy survey here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6ZGM6GR

All information including public open houses can be found here
https://winnipeg.ca/ppd/PublicEngage...gy/default.stm

Please take a few minutes to fill it out the survey!

[buzzg]

In other "I'm giving up" news...

It seems like the city has just given up and elected to go with the standard unpainted steel modular traffic signals in Graham. Garry too. I thought maybe they were temporary for construction but the fact they put bike signals up and the lanes won't even be open this year says otherwise. There's corners that have unpainted, SHED, Ans old transit mall designs. Same goes for Portage. It's a mess.

[headhorse]

how bout that underpass though?

[bomberjet]

Garry has nice street lighting though, doesn't it? Or is it just LED lamps.

[plrh]

Originally Posted by buzzg

In other "I'm giving up" news...

It seems like the city has just given up and elected to go with the standard unpainted steel modular traffic signals in Graham. Garry too. I thought maybe they were temporary for construction but the fact they put bike signals up and the lanes won't even be open this year says otherwise. There's corners that have unpainted, SHED, Ans old transit mall designs. Same goes for Portage. It's a mess.

Are they galvanized? Or are they going with the trendy "corten" look?

[Winnipegger]

Those are the perks of living in this country's cheapest city. The services and capital budget has been eroding for quite some time, and given the constraints, most departments elect to cut as many "non-essential" line items as possible before touching the essential front line services. However, the city's budget will soon be at a place where, without significant change, almost all the nice stuff and extras provided will be cut and we'll start seeing reductions in essential and front line services.

So as long as taxpayers are okay with this - Winnipeg being the "bargain bin" of Canada, then it will continue down this path and we will see little change. Expect more community centres to shut down, less streetscaping, less park maintenance and grass cutting, less bike lanes, abandoned prevention measures to save our urban forest, no more fixing bridges, no more overpasses, no more road widening, no pedestrian bridges, no new fire or police stations, no electric buses, and most of all, no more legs of rapid transit.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by Winnipegger

Those are the perks of living in this country's cheapest city. The services and capital budget has been eroding for quite some time, and given the constraints, most departments elect to cut as many "non-essential" line items as possible before touching the essential front line services. However, the city's budget will soon be at a place where, without significant change, almost all the nice stuff and extras provided will be cut and we'll start seeing reductions in essential and front line services.

So as long as taxpayers are okay with this - Winnipeg being the "bargain bin" of Canada, then it will continue down this path and we will see little change. Expect more community centres to shut down, less streetscaping, less park maintenance and grass cutting, less bike lanes, abandoned prevention measures to save our urban forest, no more fixing bridges, no more overpasses, no more road widening, no pedestrian bridges, no new fire or police stations, no electric buses, and most of all, no more legs of rapid transit.

We have virtually none of those already..

Somebody, the next mayor, needs to put financial reform at the top of the campaign trail. We can not continue to do what we're doing. everyone knows it. It's not just about fixing the damn roads.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by drew

It's all true! Footings are used only for cheap housing, and maybe garages.

You could have saved some $$ and just posted a question here...

(I am a structural engineer, and there are likely others kicking around here, plus architects).

This is crazy to me, strip and pad footings are good for up to 5 or 6 storeys here, but a house needs a 20m friction pile in Winnipeg. Saskatchewan is slightly better from my limited experience, but still requires heavy use of piles.

What do you guys do for tower foundations here, friction piles under a raft slab?