London Construction - Development News Thread #1

[QuantumLeap]

News on the Hyde Park towers from the City of London:

Meeting scheduled January 14, 2008:
5:00 p.m. – 1503 Hyde Park Road – On December 10, 2007 Planning Committee heard an application by The TriCar Group to amend Zoning By-law Z.-1 to allow for development of two 14 storey apartment buildings. The statutory Public meeting relating to this application was conducted at this time. Planning Committee referred the item back to Administration to further explore the potential for alternative design options for the proposed development. The matter will return to Planning Committee for discussion and deliberation on the planning recommendation.
File: Z-7399 Planner: Craig Smith

[RickRobs]

By NORMAN DE BONO, SUN MEDIA

A steamy, made-in-London TV hockey soap, nicknamed Hockey's Desperate Housewives, is set to debut on CBC.

The show, about the off-ice lives of a fictitious hockey team, the Mustangs, begins airing Jan. 11 at 9 p.m..

If the network picks up the program, MVP, for another season, it just might return to London for shooting since the show's producers were thrilled with the reception they got in the Forest City.

"We're huge fans," Mary Young-Leckie, executive producer of the show and its co-creator, said of London.

"We shopped at Richmond Row, downtown at Frilly Lizard and FM where the crew bought a lot of clothes. There are also some great restaurants in London. You guys have got it going on."

Young-Leckie chose London for the show's shooting location because she wanted "a big-city look with an affordable budget."

But she was also charmed by the city's different pockets of neighbourhoods, each offering a different feel for different scenes in the series.

The biggest draw was the John Labatt Centre, she added.

"It was incredible. We needed a world-class rink and the JLC is beautiful. We scouted other communities -- Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, Guelph -- but London had a big-city feel to it."

Tourism London helped the production company set up in the city, and general manager John Winston hopes that leads to other production opportunities.

"The beautiful part is that the city has been exposed to producers who are looking west of the GTA and they see now there are other locations, other areas to shoot," he said.

Winston said he has since fielded calls from three film production companies looking for locations.

Tourism London also helped with everything from touring the city with production officials, to finding locations, cars, a masseuse and even a doctor when a crew member got sick, added Winston. "It worked out very well. We hope they come back, it was a lot of fun," he said.

The cast and crew felt "welcomed with open arms," said Chris Shaw, location manager for the series.

"You cannot make a movie without the help of people in a community and London did that," he said. "It has everything -- good locations, high-end neighbourhoods. I cannot say enough good things about the city and its people."

The series will feature homes in Arva and Wortley Village, as well as downtown locales.

The producers also needed a large warehouse near Highway 401 where they could set up their office and build sets. They found one in a plaza off Wellington Road, just south of the 401.

While most films and TV series are shot in Toronto, production companies are offered a 10-per-cent tax credit to film outside the GTA, which helped push MVP to London.

Of the 10 shows this season, eight were shot in London. The show has an $18-million budget.

Young-Leckie operates Screen Door Productions with Heather Haldane, which also made TV programs The Arrow, about the ill-fated Avro Arrow military jet; Shattered City, about the 1917 Halifax explosion; and Shades of Black, the Conrad Black story.

MVP was filmed in London from June to the end of September.

[Brunnhilde44]

What's the best way of checking for future developments with the city of London? We want to check to see what developments are scheduled for Riverside Drive near Hartson where there are old shattered greenhouses that look slated for demolition.
The official plan seems to indicate that hi rises might be scheduled near Riverside/Sanatorium on the south side. Again we need to check and wonder whether anyone can help us.

[worldwide]

you could look at zoning amendments and building permits on the city website

[ldoto]

Sat, December 29, 2007

The construction firm is honoured for its loyalty to its workers and to London.

By HANK DANISZEWSKI, SUN MEDIA



Most motorists driving along Oxford Street East probably don't realize they're passing the global headquarters of a billion-dollar company.

But EllisDon has always made a virtue out of loyalty to its hometown and its employees.

Earlier this year, the construction company was named London's first corporate icon by the Chamber of Commerce. Now it has been named Canada's best employer in a national survey by Toronto-based Hewitt Associates.

EllisDon vice-president Brian Waltham said the company has always relied on its employees.

"At EllisDon you're given all sorts of responsibility. You're going to make mistakes but you're going to learn from them," he said.

For decades, Londoners have watched EllisDon cranes swing over the construction of the city's most prominent buildings, including city hall, Galleria London and the John Labatt Centre.

But what Londoners have not seen is the prestige projects around the world, including the Rogers Centre in Toronto, the National Gallery in Ottawa, Canary Wharf in London, England, and the Olympic Village in Atlanta, Ga.

EllisDon now is engaged in a flurry of hospital building in Hamilton, Mississauga, Ottawa and Brampton.

As well, the company has just started work on the $200-million Bluewater Health Centre in Sarnia.

Looking to the future, Waltham said there's no practical reason for moving the head office out of London.

While the company has some corporate functions in Toronto, key functions such as payroll and accounting are still done in the London office, which has about 150 employees.

"That stuff has always been done here and it always will be."

Across Canada, EllisDon has about 1,000 employees. There are satellite offices in Florida, Dubai, Athens and St. Lucia in the West Indies.

Waltham said local management is routinely moved into key management positions around the world.

"Over the years, we have found the best way is to promote from within and have someone there you can count on," he said.

The Hewitt survey is largely based on a long questionnaire employees fill out voluntarily. About 200 Canadian companies with at least 400 employees were surveyed.

The surveys go straight to Hewitt, but EllisDon management gets a summary report on areas where the company can improve.

"That's why we have risen to No. 1, because we take all that information seriously." Waltham said.

ELLISDON LTD.

1951: Founded as a local contracting firm by brothers Don and David Ellis Smith and two silent partners.

1956: EllisDon becomes first contractor in Canada to buy and operate its own tower crane.

1968: First Canadian building company to use computers for all accounting and cost control.

1974: EllisDon launches operations in Saudi Arabia.

1986: Awarded design-build contract for Toronto's SkyDome (Rogers Centre).

1988: Completes $500-million Cami Automotive plant.

1994: Awarded contract for athletes' village for 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga.

2002: EllisDon named to list of Canada's 50 best-managed companies.

2007: After several years in the top 10, EllisDon ranks first in 50 Top Employers in Canada.

[ldoto]

Sat, December 29, 2007

By HANK DANISZEWSKI, SUN MEDIA



London-based EllisDon has been named Canada's best employer.

After finishing second and third the last two years, the construction company finished on top of the annual list of Canada's 50 best employers, compiled by Toronto-based Hewitt Associates.

Founded in 1951 by brothers Don and David Ellis Smith, EllisDon brings in more than $1.7 billion in revenue every year with construction projects across North America and as far away as the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia.

Vice-president Brian Waltham said EllisDon has always trusted its employees, who own almost half the company through employee shares. Despite fierce competition for labour in the construction industry, annual turnover is only seven per cent.

"A lot of people have grown up with EllisDon and will certainly retire here and that's what makes it so good," Waltham said.

[Masonjar]

I live in Waterloo. Auburn Developments of London has been approved for a large condo and apartment project here. Could someone point me to examples of their condo projects? I'm interested in their approach to interior and exterior design.

[ldoto]

Here is there web site have fun!!!


http://www.auburndev.com/auburnProjects.html#

[Masonjar]

Thanks, but I've seen their website. The projects area hasn't been updated in a long time. I'm looking for project related websites. I found one on the Harriston Building, but it's a rental as opposed to a condo.

[ldoto]

Mon, December 31, 2007

By PATRICK MALONEY, SUN MEDIA



With a wrecking ball looming, even heritage activists admit there's likely no saving one of London's most historically significant buildings.

A November fire badly damaged Locust Mount and now, with its owners asking the city for permission to demolish it, the fate of the 153-year-old Talbot Street mansion could be sealed.

"We've pretty much acknowledged that the house can't be saved," said Joe O'Neil of the London Area Committee on Heritage.

"We're going to propose some kind of replica (on the ensuing development) along the lines of the John Labatt Centre."

Locust Mount's owner, Drewlo Holdings, has applied to the city for permission to tear down the home. Planning committee must hold a public meeting because Locust Mount is a designated heritage building.

That meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 14. Though O'Neil's group will have at least one representative there, it appears unlikely they will oppose the bid.

A fire tore through the home at 661 Talbot St. in the early morning hours of Nov. 10, burning through the second floor and destroying the roof. The interior walls were also heavily damaged.

The building was vacant and several items found inside -- charred mattresses, furniture and bottles of liquor -- suggest vagrants had been staying there, and possibly started the blaze.

Though O'Neil appears to have accepted the home's fate, he and other heritage activists are irked it left unattended for so long.

"The house shouldn't have been in the position it was," he said. "This house was identified long ago as one of the most important in the city, for architectural and historic reasons.

"If a house with this history had been in any other city . . . it would not have been let go like this one."

The stately home, built in 1854, was home to one-time London mayor and senator Elijah Leonard. It's also one of the last remaining London homes built before Confederation.

The November blaze came just months after Drewlo announced it would restore the boarded-up mansion, rather than tear it down. That plan was hailed as a breakthrough for heritage preservation here.

Now, however, the future looks bleak.

"In many ways it's not a surprise to see this (demolition request) come forward, but you can understand how disappointed we all are," said Coun. Judy Bryant, who sits on the planning committee.

"I just hope the new development will be respectful of the neighbourhood."

[QuantumLeap]

About Auburn, their quality seems to vary quite a bit, from some hideous subdivisions to some alright developments (see their concepts for the Barrel Yards, Richmond North etc). I assume their interior work is similar to recent Drewlo buildings: white and drab, low-brow luxury. Their urban design is, to say the least, lacking.

[ldoto]

Thu, January 3, 2008

Three plans are being floated for links across Lake Erie to Ohio or Pennsylvania.

By CHIP MARTIN, SUN MEDIA



Talk of a ferry crossing for Lake Erie is heating up.

And the talk is about three proposals to link Ohio, Pennsylvania and Ontario ports.

The three proponents will present their cases to port authority officials at a meeting east of Cleveland next week as the officials consider which is worth pursuing from the American side of the lake.

The proposed links are:

- Erie, Pa., to Port Dover.

- Cleveland, Ohio, to Port Stanley.

- Fairport Harbor, east of Cleveland, to Port Burwell.

Port authorities in the Ohio counties of Cuyahoga (partnered with Cleveland), Lake and Ashtabula (partnered with Erie) have called the gathering to decide which plan is worth pursuing in a bid to enhance the daily $88 million worth of trade between Ohio and Ontario.

The most recent plan has come from the tiny lakeside village of Grand River, which is working with Short Sea Lines for the Fairport Harbor-to-Port Burwell link.

Grand River Mayor Chris Conley said yesterday he and representatives of other smaller harbour authorities will also be on hand Jan. 7 as officials assess the relative merits of the three plans.

"All of these people are going to decide what's the best ferry, and, combined, work toward that end," he said.

Conley's community sees becoming an international border crossing as an important economic boost to the area, which has seen a decline in manufacturing.

"Mine's the best," Conley said, noting it would move more transport trucks than rival proposals and more cars and passengers.

"The only way to keep this ferry in the black is by what she can carry in the hold," he said, noting the bid from nearby Cleveland would accommodate fewer trucks. And Cleveland is beginning a 20-year plan to relocate its harbour, which would delay ferry plans.

"Why are you even in the ferry hunt and why are you not helping me?" Conley said he has asked Cleveland officials.

The more easterly crossing from Ashtabula-Erie to Port Dover is so close to Buffalo, it would shave little off travel times between Ohio and the Toronto area compared to the land route, Conley said.

Conley said aside from the hundreds of jobs and economic stimulus the $465-million project would bring, it would reduce carbon emissions significantly and help clean up the environment.

He has met with officials in Ontario, including those in Oxford County who like the idea of a closer link to Ohio.

Central Elgin Mayor Sylvia Hofhuis said the Port Stanley plan has the strong backing of Cleveland officials. They've secured federal U.S. funding and are "very keen to get going," Hofhuis said.

But the delay is on the Canadian side of the border: Central Elgin is negotiating with the federal government to take ownership of the Port Stanley harbour. Until then, Hofhuis can't make any deal with her Ohio counterparts.

"When we get the harbour, we will begin serious negotiations with (officials in) Cleveland," she said. "They're quite willing to help us in any way they can."

At Port Burwell, dredging of the mouth of the Otter Creek would be required, Bayham Mayor Lynn Acre noted.

"We're interested in it for economic development and because of the help we could get with dredging," Acre said.

"And there would be a lot of environmental benefits, getting all those trucks off the road. This could create a new trade route between Ohio and the Greater Toronto Area."

She said Bayham hopes to contribute toward a feasibility study by getting money from Ontario's rural economic development program.

"It's too good an opportunity to let it go adrift," she said .

Acre said she's supportive of Conley and the Fairport Harbor proposal and hopes the meeting of cross-lake harbour officials next week will pave the way for a mutually beneficial cross-lake link.

FERRY PROPOSALS

1 Cleveland, Ohio, to Port Stanley

Proponent: Royal Wagenborg

Service: Passage for 500 passengers and 225 cars or 75 transport trucks, with two or three crossings daily

Crossing time: Three hours

2 Fairport Harbor, Ohio, to Port Burwell

Proponent: Short Sea Lines

Service: 3,000 transport trucks (half northbound, half southbound) each day, or each ferry trip with 398 cars or 600 people

Crossing time: Two hours

3 Erie, Pa., to Port Dover

Proponent: Erie- Western Pennsylvania Port Authority

Service: 58-metre fast ferry with room for 46 cars and nearly 250 passengers

Crossing time: 80 minutes

[MolsonExport]

^cool. I vote for option 1.

[ldoto]

City council gave the go-ahead last night to building a pricey call centre that supporters say will make it much easier for Londoners to get help when they phone city hall.

By a 12-to 5-vote, council backed a venture favoured by city hall's chief administrative officer Jeff Fielding.

"This is about serving our public . . . Our community desperately needs this," Coun. Judy Bryant said.

Fielding's plan would enable Londoners to avoid navigating hundreds of phone numbers at city hall, giving them a single, simple number to call: 3-1-1.

He wants to create a call centre downtown where city staff would be trained to answer most questions and route the rest to someone at city hall who could help.

The new system would also use software to track each query and response.
But while most on council applauded the plan, many questioned the cost, timing or whether service might be more cheaply provided by hiring a call-centre firm.

While Fielding opposes contracting out the service, his staff was directed by council to find out how much money that might save, compared to using city staff.

Under his plan, Fielding estimates it would cost $3.3 million in the next two years to design and equip a 7,000-square-foot call centre he hopes to lease downtown.

It would cost about $1.9 million a year to operate the centre weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Budget chief Tom Gosnell said that's too much for a city struggling to keep down taxes and keep up with basic infrastructure as the world economy teeters on uncertainty south of the border.

Simply put, he said, the sinkhole in downtown London serves of a reminder of bigger priorities. "We saw what happened at Dundas and Wellington," Gosnell said.

Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best insisted that council could undo at budget time its support last night.

But Coun. David Winninger questioned why council was being asked to approve such a big-ticket item now, in advance of budget decisions.

"Why are we giving this particular project a leg-up? Why do we have to approve it today," Winninger asked.

Still others questioned why Fielding was adamant on using city employees and leasing a building rather than using the services of one of the many call-centre operators in London.

"It could be operated (privately) at a fraction of the cost," said Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen, his comments sparking several on council to say they would never contract out such a service.

Fielding stood firm, saying 311 systems had worked wonders in other cities and that London had already spent $5.1 million to upgrade its phones for such a use.

"Why would you make (that investment) and still have (in effect) the same phones on the desk -- it doesn't make sense."

Fielding has said he wants to eventually expand the hours of the call centre -- at increased costs -- to 14 hours weekdays and seven hours Saturday.

[ldoto]

The Gardens will be open to the public, but the pavillion, bandshell and dance floor can be fenced off for private functions.





From the ashes of a bitter breakup and heartbreaking fire, a new Wonderland Gardens has risen.

Whether Londoners will embrace it as they did the original remains to be seen, but city officials say they're doing everything they can to rekindle the romance.

"It will be a great facility when it is all pulled together," said Andrew MacPherson, city parks manager.

The reborn Wonderland should be ready for full public use and appraisal July 1.
"All the buildings are up. They are just finishing the interiors," MacPherson said.




The buildings should be completed by spring, he said.

The second stage of the work -- new paths, lookouts and sitting areas that open the Gardens to the riverfront parkway -- will take a few more months, he said.

The city has a lot at stake in doing the Gardens right.
Built in 1935 along the Thames River, near Springbank Drive and Wonderland Road, the bandshell and dance pavilion quickly became a popular spot.

As big bands gave way to rock bands, Wonderland drew more generations of fans.

The pavilion was turned into a banquet hall for hundreds of weddings and parties and a spring-fed swimming pool gave chilly lessons to thousands of London kids.

In 2003, though, the deal between the city and the Jones family, which built and ran the Gardens, went sour. Chuck Jones, whose father and uncle had built the place, was the former owner, manager.

The city took control over the Gardens and the site fell into disrepair. A fire two years later destroyed many of the structures.

With about $1.8 million in insurance and $1.4 million in tax dollars, the city decided to rebuild Wonderland Gardens in the style of its first incarnation.
The dance hall is open on three sides, with an arched pine and cedar roof and, along the only wall, storage rooms and a small kitchen.

A restaurant built in the 1980s was torn down and replaced by a concession stand, much like the original.

The bandshell had to be taken down and replaced, MacPherson said. "From the front, it looks identical to the old one," he said.

But the back has been expanded to include rooms for musicians. "It is new and expanded but what you see will bring back memories of Wonderland Gardens."

The Gardens will be open to the public. But the pavilion, bandshell, concession stand and outdoor dance floor can be fenced off for private weddings and parties, MacPherson said.

The main entrance to the Gardens has been shifted to the east of the bandshell, with a wide path through trees and gardens guiding visitors to the site.

The buildings retain their signature white stucco walls and red tile roofs.

[ldoto]

Try Recycling will soon start construction in London of a second recycling complex, which may become a model for the province.

The 16.2-hectare site on Dingman Drive in south London will be more convenient to homeowners who want to recycle renovation debris and other household junk, said Try Recycling president Jim Graham.

“Everybody want to recycle, but it has to be convenient and customer-friendly. It’s got to be just as easy as taking the blue box to the curb,” he said.

Try Recycling opened its first recycling Depot on Clarke Road in north-east London in 1991.

Graham said the company has been planning the new facility for five years and has toured other operations around North America.

The new $2-million facility will have separate lanes and dumping areas for residential and industrial-commercial customers. He said the location will be more convenient to customers in south London or those exiting off Highways 401 and 402.

Graham said the facility will have a “park-like setting” with landscaped ponds and grow-a-row-gardens operated by community groups. There will also be a retail store selling recycled material such as wood chips, top soils and recycled glass products.

[ldoto]

Developers says the current application process is too slow and inconsistent.

By PATRICK MALONEY, SUN MEDIA


Irked by what it calls a time-consuming and inconsistent system, a London develop industry lobby group yesterday asked the city to revamp how development applications are processed.

The Keep London Growing Coalition discussed its concerns with council's planning committee, suggesting a new office at city hall to oversee their files from start to finish could significantly help them wade through the red tape.
"It was not to find blame on anyone's part," Jim MacKinnon, the coalition head, said of the request.

"It was to find an outcome that would do a better job of bringing applications through in a faster and better manner."

But the idea was batted back by the planning committee.

A developer's application is now handed off during the planning, engineering and finance stages. But the city's chief administrative officer is studying a new system that may add more consistency to the process. That file management system, copied from Calgary, would see an application handled by a single planner.

It's clear the most pressing concern for developers is the perceived shortage of lots for single-family homes. The coalition says a slow city approval process is responsible, leaving some builders without work.

MacKinnon said the industry believes there are only about 100 such lots available; city staff countered there's an inventory of 2,500 for which building permits have not been issued.

Council members who don't sit on planning committee attended the meeting, including Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, who suggested staff study three scenarios to ease that concern.

Staff, she said, should determine the costs of opening up 2,000, 4,000 and 6,000 lots and report its findings as soon as possible. That recommendation was approved by the committee.

There was also concern over the pressure the development lobby may be placing on city staff. Coun. Nancy Branscombe said they shouldn't be expected to skip steps to force through applications more quickly.

"We're not asking for shortcuts," MacKinnon said. "We're asking if there's a more efficient way."

[ldoto]

Today in the London free press Daily Poll it had this!!! I thought it was cool the amount of people that said yes!!!!

Would you like to see a ferry service operating from Port Stanley to the Cleveland, Ohio, area?

Yes 88%
No 12%


Total Votes for this Question: 94

Here is the link:

http://lfpress.ca/Includes/Polls/LFP...l_results.html

[ldoto]

One of the finishing touches is assembling 12,000 glass crystals to form the chandeliers.




Dale Henderson is thankful he's retired from his old job.

The retired engineer is finding getting the London City Music Theatre up and running at the former IMAX theatre site is a daunting task -- and a full-time job.

"It is taking time," conceded London's newest theatre impresario.
He had hoped to open the music theatre doors at the Western Fair grounds in October.

Now it looks like mid-March before the conversion will be complete.



Red tape, fire and building code inspections and engineering obstacles and seals of approval have prompted changes in plans and the replacement of wood with concrete and I-beams in places, he said.

Then there's the task of co-ordinating and dovetailing the various trades on the job into which Henderson is pouring a chunk of his pension money he won't disclose.

"I'm still gung-ho," he said yesterday, adding he feels a bit like an air traffic controller acting as foreman for the project.

The Western Fair Association opened the $10-million wide-screen IMAX Theatre to much fanfare in 1995, but it failed to make money and was closed after about 10 years. Officials planned to raze the 300-seat facility, but Henderson came forward with his music theatre plan to lease it for five years, renewable for another five.

Henderson, a former band-leader and drummer, plans to stage musicals with the doubling of seating, installation of corporate boxes, a balcony and a sprung stage.

Also on the playbill will be opera productions, orchestras, big bands, noon-hour concerts, country, western and rock 'n' roll acts and Sunday evening gospel services.

Among the time-consuming activities, Henderson said, was the decision to create two, two-metre-high chandeliers, since none could be bought.

Welders have been put to work and 12,000 pieces of glass crystal imported from China.

[QuantumLeap]

The Ferry Plan to Port Stanley has a lot of obvious benefits, but a lot needs to be done in order for it to succeed, including:

-London needs to play a bigger part in the Great Lakes economic forum. The role of this organization should be strengthened
-The Feds need to commit to dredging and maintaining Port Stanley harbour.
-All levels of government should support making Port Stanley a prime beach destination in Ontario, with an improved beach, facilties and accomondations.
-The City of London should partner with PSTR, VIA and the County to revive the railway. Not only would this be a tourist destination, it would link the ferry to Downtown London, and serve commuters between St. Thomas and London.
-Tourism London should start an aggressive promotion program in especially Ohio, but also Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. These four states have more population than all of Canada.