Gallery Updates

Hello All,

The building's shell is close to being complete with the exterior fourth floor walls being installed. Mechanical and drywall on the the corridor ceilings continues in all the building. Stucco installation on the south section continues. Chilly in the mornings with a little bit of warmth in the afternoons.  Take care and we shall talk to you soon!  :o)

 

Happy Halloween,

Everything continues to progress along.  Fourth floor joists continue to be install, mechanical continues in all the building, stucco installation on the south section continues, vinyl decking on the south section decks is complete.  The weather has been beautiful all week.  Chilly in the mornings but very warm in the afternoons.  Have a spooktacular day!!

Hi,

Things continue to progress on site.  The roof trusses were delivered on Wednesday and more came on Thursday, 4th floor joists started being installed on the east section, 4th floor exterior walls continue to be built, mechanical continues on the south section and stucco install continues on the south section also. Have a wonderful weekend!

Hi,

What a beautiful week with temperatures at the mid teen's.  Framing of the third floor interior walls continue.  The forth floor exterior walls are being built.  Mechanical continues in the south section. Drywall and electrical rough in continues on 1st & second floors. Stucco install continues on the south section. Don't forget to check out the pictures in the gallery.  Until next week!!!

Hello,

A really chilly week with cold winds and low temperatures.  The third floor exterior walls are up and the interior walls are being installed.  The crane moved from behind the building to the front of the building.  Stucco continues to be installed on the south section. Mechanical & drywall continue in the building.  Hope your Thanksgiving weekend is enjoyable!  Stay warm.

Hello,

A lot has progressed this week; Stucco is being installed on the south section , mechanical continues in the south section, drywall continues to be installed on the corridor ceilings of the first floor, framing is finished on the second floor and third floor exterior walls are being installed.  Don't forget to check out the pictures in the gallery.  Hope you have a great weekend.

Hello Everyone,

Its been a couple of weeks since I last updated you.  The framers are finishing up back framing on the second floor and making the 3rd floor walls.  The concrete firewall is complete to the top of the roof.  Mechanical continues in the south section.  Beautiful weather this week.  Very warm during the day but chilly in the mornings.  Have a great weekend  :o)

Hi Everyone,

We continue to frame the second floor walls on the west section and the third floor joists.  Mechanical continues in the south section and electrical has started in the parkade.  Atco gas was on site to lower an existing gas line at the front of the property.  The mornings are a bit on the chilly side but the rain has stayed away most of the week.  Hope you have a good weekend.  Till next time!!! :o)

Hi Everyone,

So exciting, the walls of the front entry were installed this week!  The third floor joists continue to be installed on the east & west sections and the windows are in the south section.  I am looking forward to see what develops in the next week.  Have a great long weekend.  Talk to you soon!  :o)

Hello Everyone,

The weather has been excellent this week.  The building is progressing along at a fast pace. The second floor walls are up and the 3rd floor joists are being installed on the east & west sections; mechanical & windows continue in the south sections.  Don't forget to look at the pictures in the gallery.  Talk to you soon!!!

Hi Everyone,

What a great week of progress on the building.  As you can see from the gallery pictures the second floor walls are being install, some of the third floor joists are installed and the roofing is completed on the south section.  Mechanical and window installation continues on the south section.  I can't help but be excited as the building continues to grow.  Until next time!!

Hello Everyone,

Hope you had a great long weekend!  Mechanical & plumbing continue on the south section.  Framing continues on the east & west sections.  A few weird storms passed through this week causing some slight delays; however the building is continuing along nicely.

Have a wonderful week!!!

Hello Everyone,

A beautiful week with a tiny bit of rain.  Thankfully the rain did not cause any major delays.  Framing continues; the 2nd floor joists almost completed and the 2nd floor exterior walls are ready to be installed.  Window installation and mechanical continue in the south section. 

I hope you enjoy your long weekend! :o)

Hello Everyone,

Well, its been a beautiful week of warm weather and little rain.  Framing is still under way with the 2nd floor joists being installed on the east and west sections, window installation and mechanical have started on the south section.  The building as a whole is starting to take shape.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Some days I don't know whether to complain or be happy.  Up until recently we were having a lot of rain which caused huge delays with low production and poor site access.  Yet, on the other hand this last 2 weeks has been scorching hot with the average temperature being above 25 degrees celsius and high humidity.  First we complain it is too wet, then we complain it is too hot.  But this is why we love Alberta.

The project is going well, but like I mentioned the amount of rain we have received in the last 3 weeks has really caused some lengthy delays.  Just as the ground dries up to a point that it is workable; it rains.  We are crossing our fingers and holding our breath that the rain is minimal over the next month so we can try to gain some ground back.

Hello All,

Another beautiful sunny day!  The site has finally dried up after all the rain that we had over the last couple of weeks.  I don't think that there was a lot of accumulated precipitation, but it sure made for a mess on the site.  The block layers have almost completed all of their work and will be moving on next week.  With that portion of the project out of the way there is lots of room for the framing crew to advance with less obstacles.  Things are really coming together nicely and flowing very well.

Well, there is no point making excuses why this page has not been updated since January.  It just plain has not happened.  There is a lot that has happened over the last 5 months, as you will see by pictures in the gallery.  The basement is almost completed with just backfilling left on the outside as well as a ton of work left below grade.  We have begun framing on the south wing up to a concrete firewall which causes us to frame all the way to the roof before proceeding past that.  We have also begun framing on the west end of the building working back towards the firewall.  There are a lot of men on site with very little room to store materials and equipment.  I can not make any promises, but I intend on keeping this website much more up to date in the future.  Until next time...have a fantastic day!

Happy New Year!!!

I hope that you and your family had a fantastic Christmas.  The trades had a nice break and are back into full swing.  We have had fantastic weather so far and are hoping for a short winter!  If the weather continues to hold we are hoping to pour our first portion of the main floor slab in about 2 weeks.

Merry Christmas!

This will be the last update for this year!  I trust this update finds you and your family well.

We have begun the formwork for the main floor concrete.  There is a lot of work involved in setting up the formwork to support the weight of all that concrete.  I am amazed this year, at how hard it is to get materials this close to Christmas.  It seems like everyone is shutting down early this year.  The mild weather the last week has helped tremendously being easier for the men to handle working in the cold weather.

Blessings to you and your family in the new year.

Winter has now set upon us.  We had a fantastic fall with beautiful weather.  The cold weather has created extra labour for us needing to ensure that the concrete we pour does not freeze.  We have now finished pouring all of the columns that will support the structural slab as well as the walls at the parkade entrance.  we have some more walls to pour but will not be able to pour those until a later date due to restricted access to the basement.  Since we talked last I obtained a permit from the City of Red Deer to use part of the cul-de-sac at the west end of the project for storage as we were starting to get tight for space on site.  It has not been an easy task trying to move this project forward as fast as possible and minimize disturbing the surrounding residents.  If you take a look at our pictures in the gallery you will notice a brown membrane on the exterior of the foundation wall.  This is a waterproofing membrane that is superior to the traditional tar.

There is never enough hours in the day this time of year when the sun rises late and sets early, but the trades are working very hard to keep this project on schedule.

Until next time...keep warm

I can't believe how lucky we have been with the good weather.  Winter's cold bite has stayed away so far and we have been able to make good progress due to this.  We have got columns poured in the south wing of the building and will begin the underground plumbing next week.  It is quite impressive the new technology that exists which allows us to work through the winter months, unlike only a few years ago when most projects would sit and wait until suitable weather existed to complete.

A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks while the street has been closed.  The City crews are putting on the final touches on the street from the upgrades.  As I am writing this my coffee cup is vibrating off my desk because of the packer running up and down the road.  It has been a struggle trying to maintain momentum with the street being closed but you will notice that we have most of the walls poured and have started standing columns.

Another fine fall day.  I trust that you all are taking advantage of this beautiful weather.  +12 this morning and overcast, the temperature rose to +22 in the sunshine.  I love working in weather like this.  There has been another big stride in progress.  There is almost another 1/3 of concrete wall being formed up as we speak.  We are hoping to have another big pour next week.  Every good weather day we get now helps shave off time at the end of the schedule.  The City of Red Deer continues to work on storm, sanitary and water line upgrades in the street.  They anticipate that they will have the street closed off for another 2 weeks.

I was sitting this morning in my job shack and thinking to myself that I should add an update to our website.  When I opened the web page I was shocked to see that it has been over a month since I last provided an update.  I must apologize for my tardiness as I am sure that there are many of you who follow this site closely.

Much has happened since the last update.  The foundation crew is on site and making great progress on the foundation walls.  We are pushing hard to beat the frost.  Any day without frost at this time of year is a blessing.  We are pouring our first big section of wall tomorrow morning.

If you are planning on driving past the project soon I suggest that you drive by before Monday morning as the City will be closing a portion of the street so that they may upgrade the services to the building.  The street will be closed for approximately 2 weeks.  During this period of time I will try to update this page more frequently so that you can still feel connected to the project.

I would like to say Thank you to all of you who have respected the boundary of the construction fence and not entered the site.  There have been several cases of curious passers by stepping inside the fence and not realizing they are in danger.

Until next time...(which will hopefully be sooner than a month!)

Hello Folks,

The Piling Contractor was able to shave about 2 weeks off of their original schedule due to availability of a second crew.  Unfortunately the following trades weren't available to move in any sooner than the original scheduled date.  Although it appears that not much is going on right now, I would like to assure you that we are on schedule and doing everything we can to shorten the length of construction.

Hello All,

It is hard to see what has changed on site unless you have been watching closely.  You won't see much above ground because we have been drilling piles for the last few days.  By the end of the pile stage there will be approximately 76,000 lbs of steel and 300 cubic metres of concrete below grade!  Every pile has to be monitored by geotechnical personnel to ensure that each pile is the correct size and the correct depth.  Check out some of the pictures from the piling stage in the gallery section of our website.

Well Folks, not much has changed.  The excavation is now complete.  We are currently getting ready for the piling contractor to arrive on site.  There will be drilled concrete piles, therefore no annoying pounding all day long!  There won't be any obvious physical changes to the site over the next few weeks as the majority of the work will be underground.

Hello Folks,

Nothing new to report.  We are still excavating away!  There is a lot of dirt that needs to be moved.  We should be wrapping up the excavation this week and will soon be starting piles.

Until next time...

Hello Folks,

It has been approximately 2 months since I last gave you an update.  We have just begun excavation and are now moving full steam ahead with construction.  The City of Red Deer had several requirements that had to be met prior to beginning construction, which has been the reason for most of the delay.  I would like to say a huge "Thank-you" to the folks down at City Hall who have been working very hard, have been very cooperative and helpful trying to expedite the beginning of construction for this building.  If you have not driven by lately you will be quite surprised at the change in landscape when you do drive by!  The excavation has been very interesting.  We have found footings and a few bricks from the original Convent building.  As well the rain revealed what appears to be an old water well from the original building as well!

There will soon be some new pictures of the construction to this point in the galleries, please visit us again and view them.

 Monday, May 28, 2007

Hello Folks,

We were at City Hall this morning where the Municipal Planning Commission (MPC) gathered to review our application to proceed with the project.  The unanimously approved.  There is a long list of criteria that we need to meet before we can break ground but we are getting close.  We are still anticipating that we will be able to start excavation in early July.

May 16, 2007

In 2005 Laebon Homes was able to acquire this beautiful site.  Since 2005 Laebon Homes has held community meetings, conducted traffic studies, geotechnical investigations and environmental assessments.  We have also spent numerous hours designing the shape of the building and suites to provide the best use of the land and as a result provide the best views of the city.  You will be impressed at the beauty of this site and the views of the city when completed.  We have also spent countless hours contemplating how we can incorporate the history of the old building and its connection with the community into the new building.  We have committed to restoring the Bell Tower and statue of St Joseph and placing them in the landscape of the new building.  As well the Sisters have donated the piano that was in the convent for so many years.

We have begun the presale phase and have had great response from you, the customer.  We are currently waiting for final approval from the City of Red Deer before we can begin construction.  We anticipate City approval in early June.  At this point it looks like we will be able to begin construction in Early July.