NEWS BRIEFS
BRITISH COLUMBIA
New Westminster
– Bird Construction wins
$259 million mental
health project
Bird Construction Inc. says Fraser
Health has selected Bird Design-Build
Construction Inc., a wholly owned
subsidiary, as the preferred proponent
to design and build a new $259 million
mental health facility and energy cen-
tre at Royal Columbian Hospital in
New Westminster, B.C.

The new 75-bed Mental Health and
Substance Use (MHSU) wellness cen-
tre will be a four-storey building with
approximately 13,000 sq. m., provid-
ing both inpatient and outpatient serv-
ices. The MHSU building will include a
two-level bridge link to the existing
hospital with one level for patient
movement and the other for hospital
services. In addition, the building will
have a multi-level 450 stall parkade to
service the campus.

The energy centre is designed to
support the needs of the existing cam-
pus in addition to the new MHSU
building and is sized to support future
proposed redevelopment phases. It
will also house an IT communication
hub which is designed to support
Royal Columbian Hospital’s future in-
formation technology infrastructure re-
quirements. The project, targeting LEED Gold
certification, is expected to com-
mence construction in early 2017 and
be completed in winter 2019.

North Vancouver
– G3 to build major grain
export terminal
CONSTRUCTION ACROSS CANADA
G3 Terminal Vancouver, an affiliate
of Winnipeg based G3 Global Holdings
(G3), says it will build a state-of-the-art
grain export terminal in North Vancou-
ver, the first new grain terminal con-
structed at the Port of Vancouver since
the 1960s.

“Our Vancouver terminal is central
to G3’s vision of a coast-to-coast grain
handling network that sets a new stan-
dard in efficiency,” said CEO Karl Ger-
rand. ”We plan to transform the
movement of grain through the west
coast, providing Canadian farmers
with competitive pricing and reliable
delivery opportunities.”
G3 Global Holdings, a private enter-
prise owned by Bunge Canada and
Saudi agricultural company Salic,
won’t say how much the new terminal
will cost, but Gerrand said it’s a capital
investment that will be in the “hun-
dreds of millions of dollars,” Business
in Vancouver reported. The company
says it expects the project will create
175 construction jobs.

G3’s Vancouver terminal will feature
a rail loop track that will be capable of
holding three 134-car trains, unique to
grain exporting terminals in Canada.

The terminal includes more than
180,000 metric tonnes of storage and
will be able to handle cereal grains,
oilseeds, pulses and special crops,
much of which will be supplied via a
throughput agreement with G3
Canada Limited. This will allow trains
to travel to Vancouver, unload while in
continuous motion, and travel back to
G3 Canada’s primary elevators, includ-
ing four recently constructed primary
elevators, without detaching from their
locomotives, critical to increasing sup-
ply chain efficiency.

In addition to improved rail effi-
ciency, G3’s Vancouver facility was de-
signed with a focus on high velocity
receiving, shipping, and best-in-class
environmental and safety standards,
representing the next generation in
grain terminal design.

The development of G3’s Vancou-
ver terminal will be led by Bill Mooney,
who has extensive Vancouver grain
terminal management experience, to-
42 – Winter 2017 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
gether with G3’s team of experienced
project engineers. Peter Kiewit Infra-
structure Co. has been selected as the
design-build contractor for the project.

Construction will commence in March
2017, subject to final notifications,
with the terminal slated for completion
in 2020.

ALBERTA Calgary: Bylaw requires
visual inspection of older
buildings A new bylaw that requires visual in-
spection of the exterior of older build-
ings is now in effect, but one group of
specialists says the bylaw has at least
one shortcoming, Metro News re-
ports. The City of Calgary’s Building Main-
tenance Bylaw came into effect on
New Year’s Day, targeting buildings
that are 10 years or older, and five
storeys or higher.

The law requires a trained profes-
sional to perform a visual inspection of
the building’s exterior every five years,
specifically to prevent debris from
coming loose and falling on pedestri-
ans below.

However, Mike Dietrich, past presi-
dent and board member of the Alberta
Building Envelope Council South, says
“visual inspection” may not be a clear
enough definition of what is required.

“I think there’s a concern that what
might happen is – some people may
just drive by the building, look though
binoculars or whatever, and then they
just sign off and be done with it,” he
said. Ross McDougall, the city’s chief
building inspector, said there are only
a few hundred buildings that fall under
the bylaw, and staff are familiar with
them. “Ultimately – it’s the owner’s re-
sponsibility,” he said. “If they’re going
to send us something false or inaccu-
rate – that’s their risk.”
McDougall says the city has in-
creased job site inspections in early
spring (before the Calgary Stampede)
and in mid-December to prevent inci-
dents on
construction sites.

In 2009, a three-year-old girl was