Wednesday 29 January 2014

January Update

Construction is moving along at a steady pace despite the bitterly cold winter days that we have been experiencing in Winnipeg. While for the most part, the construction of the Senior School has been shielded from view, we recently had an opportunity to step behind the tarps to bring you an in-depth report. To date, the structural steel for the second floor has been completed; this has allowed for the pre-cast concrete hollow core to be installed, along with the structural steel for the roof framing and decking.

The Fitness Centre is also beginning to take shape; the structural steel and the pre-cast concrete hollow core for the crawlspace are now in place.

Exterior: The first and second floors of the new Senior School are draped with tarps, exposing only the third floor structural steel columns.

Exterior: The Fitness Centre structural steel columns are now in place.

Main floor: Preparation of the structural floor slab. The orange tarp faces the upper field.


Main floor: Direct fired gas heaters are used to keep the temperature within the tarp area toasty warm.  During the concrete curing period the temperature is kept at a constant 32ºC (90ºF).

Main floor: Re-bar is installed prior to the cement being poured to form the concrete floor slab.


Main floor: Vapour barrier is being installed.


Second floor: The structural steel is being erected.


Second floor: You can see the structural steel columns, wall beams and Delta beams.


Second floor: The use of Delta beams rather than traditional steel beams resulted in a gain of 20 inches in ceiling height.

Second floor: Once the pre-cast concrete hollow core slabs have been laid in place, the Delta beams are filled with cement and become part of the concrete floor slab.

Second floor: The cut out wall section will be the connection from the new Senior School to the existing Cohen Building, near the existing Senior School computer lab.



Exterior: Construction workers remove snow from the foot print of the new Fitness Centre after one of many heavy snow falls this winter.



Hamber Crawlspace: Remember all that banging noise in September and October as the steel piles were driven into the ground? Steel ‘H’ piles were driven 110 feet into the ground and topped with a concrete pile cap, only 7 feet of the steel pile is now exposed.


Hamber Crawlspace: During the Hamber Building construction in the 1950’s, SJR built over top of the old South Drive.
Above are remnants of the concrete road which still exists beneath the School today.



Second floor: As a result of the Hamber Building demolition, students now walk through a plywood corridor to get to and from the Cohen Building and the Humanities Wing.  This corridor used to be part of Mr. Ray Grynol’s English classroom.


John Schaffter Hall:  Former location of the old Senior School office and future connection point to the new Senior School.