2021 Marks the 90th Anniversary of the Edmonton Construction Association - ECA On March 13th, 1931 the ECA incorporated as the Edmonton Builders Exchange, with 43 original member firms. In celebration of this milestone, the ECA team, in partnership with historians Shirley Lowe and Stephen Lowe, is pleased to present this feature of some of the major projects that defined our city over the last 90 years. Then, as today, ECA member companies were at the forefront of our building community. To peer into their projects is
to understand our industry and our city better. As the famous English author, poet, and playwright Anthony Burgess once put it: “It’s always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you’re going.” We hope you enjoy this 90th anniversary feature.
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Edmonton Construction Association | Summer 2021
1930s The economic recovery following the war and pandemic ended with a resounding crash in October of 1929. An international fiscal crisis exacerbated by a severe drought devastated the economy of Western Canada; an economy heavily dependent on exports. Residential construction ground to a halt early in the decade. While few
buildings were constructed during the 1930s, Edmonton gained a collection of deco-styled movie houses, a large meatpacking plant, and two iconic buildings that bookended the decade. These important buildings represented the end of one design era and the beginning of another.
Bowker Building (Administration/Natural Resources) 9833 109 Street NW
grey Tyndall dolomite from Manitoba. The building
Construction: 1931; 1979-1981
On its 50th anniversary Woolfenden Group Architect Ltd. were retained to entirely renovate the interior while preserving the historic façades. At a cost of $7 million, over 50,000 square feet were added. The Calgary office of Pigott Construction Western was the general contractor for the project. Construction included a new roof, new ventilation, a mezzanine, eastern portico, and a sixth floor that was invisible from the street level. In 1981, the name was changed to honour Dr. Wilbur Fee Bowker, who was head of the law faculty at the U of A, then the Alberta Institute of Law Reform.
The Bowker Building was the last office building in Edmonton to be constructed in the classic Beaux Arts style. Designed to be sympathetic with the Alberta Legislature Building by architects Fred H. MacDonald and Cecil S. Burgess, the building was intended to alleviate crowding at the legislature building and to consolidate government offices housed in off-site buildings. Constructed by H.G. Macdonald and Company in 1931 with steel and reinforced concrete, the building is clad in light
cost $940,000 and was 87,700 square feet in total.
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Enterprise Square (Hudson’s Bay Building) 10230 Jasper Avenue NW Construction: 1939; 1948; 1959; 1989; 2007 The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) was Edmonton’s first urban land developer, subdividing a portion of its reserve in 1881 and naming its main street, Jasper Avenue. Two HBC retail stores on the 102 Street site were constructed and demolished before Moody & Moore Architects of Winnipeg, Man. were hired to design the foundational portion of the 1939 building using J.R. McIntyre
as the contractor. Moody & Moore had introduced the International Style to Prairie architecture, a building style that represented the machine age. A third floor was added by the Bennett and White Construction Company in 1948. Eleven years later, HBC expanded the building again. A three-storey, third phase of the building was designed by Moody & Moore, working with local associates Dewar Stevenson and Stanley, and constructed by C.H. Whitham. In 1989, the building was designated a Municipal Historic Resource and sold to Stewart Green Properties. The building was purchased by the University of Alberta who opened their new campus in 2008 and renamed it Enterprise Square. Stantec architect, John Webster, redesigned the building by adding a fourth floor and windows to the third floor. A clearstory-style atrium removed 20,000 square feet from the second and third floors. Clark Builders was the general contractor for the $90 million project. Scorpio Masonry looked after the stonework.
1940s Canada declared war in September of 1939. For the next few years materials and labour were focused on the war effort. However, two delayed and desperately needed public school buildings were constructed at the beginning of the 1940s, one in a traditional style, the other representing new directions in education. The U.S. military, with a support staff of 10,000 civilians, arrived in 1942 to build the Alaska Highway, the Canol Project, and to
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send 7,000 aircraft to the war front. Construction activity consisted of military housing, war-related supplies, and airport hangars at Blatchford Airfield. It is rumoured that the local construction industry benefitted from the abandoned construction equipment left by the U.S. military. In 1947, the discovery of oil at Leduc #1 and the return of war veterans produced the oil boom and the baby boom, setting the stage for the prosperity of the next three decades.
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Glenora School 3520 102 Avenue NW Construction: 1940; 1949; 1979 The mounting pressure on public school space in Edmonton’s west end during the Great Depression resulted in the construction of the only Tudorinspired school in the city. The Arts and Craftsstyled school was designed by John Rule of Rule Wynn and Rule and constructed by H.G. MacDonald. With its peaked roofs, half-timbering of roughly hewn lumber, and a stucco and brick exterior design, it was meant to blend in with the surrounding residential neighbourhood. The school cost the Edmonton Public School Board $54,000 to build and was composed of four classrooms, a work room, principal and teachers’ rooms, and a
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Westglen High School 10950 127 Street NW Construction: 1940; 1956 Westglen High School brought a notable change to how schools were designed and used in Edmonton. Designed by Rule Wynn and Rule and constructed by H.G. Macdonald, the school is an excellent example of the Modern style of architecture with a strong Art Deco influence. It is typified by the balanced weaving of vertical and horizontal
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clinic. It also had an auditorium and two playrooms in the basement. In 1949, the baby boom created a demand for four more classrooms, and Rule Wynn and Rule designed the addition. Axel Johnson was the general contractor, supported by McKenzie Electric and C.R. Frost (plumbing and heating). A gymnasium was added in 1979.
compositions, the use of clean horizontal lines, flat roofs, stucco cladding, horizontal emphasis in the window design and continuous perimeter horizontal stucco bands with additional ‘speed lines’ at the corners and articulated V-shaped stucco-clad buttresses ‘supporting’ the gymnasium. Unique in its time, Westglen incorporated the first central gymnasium/ auditorium with a regulation basketball court. A large performance stage at one end of the auditorium saw a heavy demand from travelling shows, the university drama department, and countless community stage productions. A library room, art and music rooms completed its “modern” influences. In 1956, an annex was designed by Bell and McCulloch Architects and constructed by Hrudey Construction with Carl Tomlinson Electric and B.A. Moir Co. Ltd. for mechanical.
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1950s The early 1950s saw a resurgence of intense residential construction. Established neighbourhoods were filled in with new housing and a ring of greenfield developments surrounded the city, designed by a newly created planning department. Acres of tract housing quickly filled the new subdivisions. Large low-rise apartment and townhouse complexes helped ease the
housing shortage. The Department of National Defense released steel for domestic use in 1953, allowing for increased height and the use of more diverse building materials. Many deferred construction projects were completed by the end of the decade. Alberta celebrated its jubilee in 1955.
Federal Building 9820 107 Street NW Construction: 1955-1958; 2010-2015 The Federal Building is the last example of Art Deco-influenced architecture in Edmonton. The 10 storey, granite and Tyndall stone, steel-framed structure was designed by architect George Heath MacDonald in 1939 to consolidate the offices of Western Canada’s federal employees. However, the Great Depression and the war delayed construction until 1955. The luxurious lobby contained six kinds of marble, nickel-plated metal work and decorative, ornate ceilings. A massive Canadian coat of arms was positioned above the main entrance. The federal government moved to Canada Place in 1988 and although ownership of the building was transferred to the province in 1983, it stood empty for years after 1988. Renewal of the building began in 2010 with Kasian Architects and Clark Builders. Over 600 government and legislature staff have new offices. Asbestos removal, upgrades to mechanical and electrical systems, 650 underground parking
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stalls, a two-storey glass pavilion, and green roof technology were some of the features of the $250 million retrofit. Significant contractors include Stantec, Hemisphere Engineering, Genivar, Building Science, Gabriel Mackinnon, LRI, StructureCraft, Moriyama and Teshima, and Scorpio Masonry.
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World Trade Centre Edmonton (Imperial Bank of Canada/CIBC) 10102 Jasper Avenue Construction: 1951 - 1954; 2004 The Imperial Bank of Canada demolished its 1907 structure in 1950 intending to build a more modern replacement. The bank ran its business from a Quonset hut in front of the Macdonald Hotel until 1951 when the first storey was constructed. The rest
of the building was put on hold until 1953 when the Department of National Defence released steel for domestic consumption. The building was designed in the style of Modern Classicism by the Imperial Bank’s architect Col. Arthur Everett of Toronto and overseen by local architects Rule Wynn and Rule. It was built of a steel frame and clad with Indiana limestone and black granite on the streetfront façades. The building features restrained classical elements such as its use of symmetry and abandonment of traditional ornamentation. The Imperial Bank of Canada building was purchased in 2003 by the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce and has since been renovated and renamed the World Trade Centre Edmonton. HIP Architects were the prime consultants with David Murray, Architect as the heritage consultant. Clark Builders was the construction contractor.
Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium 11455 87 Avenue NW Construction: 1955 – 1957; 2005 In 1955, the Northern Alberta Jubilee and Southern Jubilee Auditoriums were presented to Edmonton and Calgary in celebration of both Alberta’s 50th anniversary. Designed in a Modern style by Ronald Clarke, chief architect of the Department of Public Works with Burns and Dutton acting as general contractors, these buildings gave each city a new venue for cultural events. The Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium was built on the southwest corner of the University of Alberta campus. An example of functionalism (where the shape of the building corresponds to the function), the main bulk of the building was the fan-shaped auditorium, with a seating capacity of 2,731. There
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were also banquet facilities, an assembly hall, a club room, and offices. The front entrance and lobbies featured a curved windowed façade with an extended low-canopied entrance that created a weather-protected walkway and passenger unloading area. The exterior was clad in Vermont marble and red brick, while the interior featured luxurious Italian marble in the lobby areas and extensive French walnut paneling within the auditorium.
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In 2005, the centennial year of the province, both auditoriums received a much-needed update. Led by Fred Valentine of the CVP Group of Architects and Engineers (now Stantec), the “Jubilee” was given new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, staggered seating, improved acoustics, and improved lighting. Bird Construction
1960s
managed a team of experts that included Stantec, Proscenium Architecture and Interiors Ltd., BKI Consultants Ltd., Jordon Akustik, Douglas Welch Design Associates Ltd., Gottschalk and Ash International.
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Edmonton began to see itself as a cosmopolitan city and started a rapid replacement of its Edwardian building stock with modernist designs that emphasised simple lines with none of the detail of classic architecture. Toward the end of the decade, a brutalist influence shaped the downtown. Edmonton introduced its first city plan in 1963 and followed up with a central city
plan in 1967. The emphasis was on single-use development with a separation of commercial, industrial, and residential development. For the first time, land developers purchased, subdivided, and constructed entire neighbourhoods. Two unique projects celebrating the new queen were completed in the 1960s and for a brief time, Edmonton had the tallest building in Canada.
Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium 13500 112 Avenue NW Construction: 1960 Canada’s first public planetarium was proposed by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and chosen by city council to commemorate the Queen’s visit to Edmonton. Queen Elizabeth II dedicated the site in July of 1959 and construction was completed in 1960. Appropriately located in Coronation Park, the planetarium sits as the crown jewel at the top of a sceptre-shaped sidewalk system. This early example of Modern Expressionist design was prepared by Dennis Mulvaney out of the office of the city architect, Robert Falconer Duke. R.V. Coambs Construction Ltd. was the general contractor.
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The structure has a rounded shape resembling a hovering flying saucer and a raised entrance with a concrete cantilevered canopy. It is topped with a 26-foot diameter dome. There are floorto-ceiling windows with gold-anodized aluminum frames, multi-coloured hardwood, and terrazzo and tile flooring. The fieldstone block faces are adorned with geometric shapes. Until it was closed on December 31, 1983, the planetarium provided
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educational astronomical and night sky events. In 2017, the planetarium was designated as a Municipal Historic Resource and work to rehabilitate it began. ATB Architects (now Stantec) were hired to restore and update the building. David Murray Architect was the heritage consultant and Chandos Contruction managed the build.
Image by Tracey L. Anderson.
CN Tower 10004 104 Avenue NW Construction: 1965 - 1966 When the 26-storey CN Tower opened on February 14, 1966, it was Canada’s tallest building outside of Toronto. It was the first of a series of major high rises that would define Edmonton’s downtown skyline. The building, designed by Abugov and Sunderland Architects, exemplifies the modern notion of a tower sitting on a podium. The podium was a glass-enclosed tall ground-floor railway station, consisting of a three-storey concrete parking structure, fully clad in pre-cast panels. A tall, thin office tower with slightly curving façades sits on the podium. The 22-storey tower is clad in a glazed curtain wall with pre-cast fins that exaggerate the height of the building. The general contractor was Hashman Construction Ltd. On October 8, 2020, the building was sold to Trez CN Tower Holdings in Vancouver.
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glazing provides a high level of transparency while the heavy timber and embedded concrete piers tie the cable structure to the ground. The building references the rolling landscape of Alberta mountains and prairies. For his unique design, Hemingway won the Massey Medal for Architecture, the highest honour in the country for architecture.
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Peter Hemingway (Coronation) Fitness and Leisure Centre 13808 111 Avenue NW Construction: 1968 – 1970 This award-winning Olympic-sized pool, originally named Coronation Pool, was designed by Peter Hemingway as a centennial project in 1967. Unique in its style, the design was inspired by the Expressive Modernism movement and the National Gymnasium and Pool in Tokyo, Japan. The wood, concrete, steel, cables, and glass connect the building with its surroundings. Curtain wall
Lang Construction and Equipment began construction in October of 1968. Read Jones Christoffersen designed the structural system with help from Swedish engineer, David Jawerth who sent a team member to Edmonton to guide the project. The facility opened on July 3, 1970, at a total cost of $1.2 million. In 2005, the pool was renamed Peter Hemingway Fitness and Leisure Centre to commemorate and honour his work.
1970s The oil crisis of 1973 was caused by an embargo and price fixing by the Organization of Oil Producing Countries (OPEC). This was followed by the 1979 crisis resulting from the Iranian revolution. The oil shortages proved a boon for Alberta. The oil sands had begun production in 1967 and were able to supply the U.S. market. In Edmonton, this wealth spurred construction of new commercial towers, institutional buildings, a downtown mall, the beginning of a pedway, and another ring of residential development, including Mill Woods.
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AGT/Telus and ATB Towers and McCauley (ATB) Plaza 10020 100 Street NW Construction: 1969 – 1971 Designed by Rule Wynn and Rule and built by PCL as the headquarters of Alberta Government Telephones (AGT), the two towers figure prominently in the Edmonton skyline. The north tower with its 24 storeys is currently owned by ATB Financial and serves as the ATB Alberta headquarters. The south tower is the 33-storey Telus House and was once the tallest building in Edmonton until Manulife Place was completed in 1981. The complex also includes Edmonton’s first
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City Centre Place/Edmonton Centre (now Edmonton City Centre) 10025 102A Avenue NW Construction: 1972 – 1978 Significant for its size, scope, and Modern style, the four acres of property redeveloped by Oxford Development Group in “the heart of downtown” would change where and how Edmontonians worked and shopped. The project required the demolition of a five-storey department store, the courthouse, a hotel, and numerous small buildings and parking lots. The three-storey Edmonton Centre Mall encompassed two square city blocks
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underground shopping mall, opened as McCauley Plaza, renamed Telus Plaza and is now ATB Place. A two-storey ATB Place annex that is now leased to tenants was originally the Edmonton Club. Poole Construction Company Ltd. acted as the general contractor.
and required a road closure. The new TD Tower on the SW corner and a new Woodward store on the east side bookended four levels of retail and service businesses. A block north would see the construction of the 29-storey Oxford Tower and a 320-room, 27-storey Four Seasons (now Centre Point) Hotel. Architects for the project were Skidmore Owings and Merrill of New York working with Wynn Forbes Lord Feldberg and Schmidt of Edmonton. Poole Construction Company Ltd. was the general contractor for each of the towers, the hotel, and the mall. Oxford has recently sold these properties to LaSalle Canada Property Fund.
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Law Courts 1A Sir Winston Churchill Square Construction: 1972 The Law Courts building is the main courthouse in Edmonton hosting the Provincial Court of Alberta, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, and the Court of Appeal of Alberta. Designed by Jock Bell of Bell McCulloch Spotowski and Associates in the Brutalist style, the building is primarily reinforced concrete with smooth interior walls and rough, exposed aggregate on the exterior. Concrete was chosen for its superior sound reduction, fire resistance, and durability. It was locally available and inexpensive. The structure is a simple square plan that is six storeys high and
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has two underground levels. The upper floors are cantilevered beyond the exterior columns in increasing dimensions, giving it the look of an inverted pyramid. CANA Construction was the general contractor with Concrete Products Ltd., Frankl Canada Ltd., Marshall Wells, Northern Hardware Co. Ltd., and Industrial Caulking & Building Sealants Ltd. supplying some of the products and services. biomes, each requiring specific environmental conditions. The fourth pyramid acted as a display area for seasonal floral exhibits. The conservatory contains one of North America’s largest orchid collections. Six support greenhouses, connected by tunnels, were completed in 1980. These greenhouses supplied the gift shop, civic contracts, and plants for municipal parks. Arrow Management Ltd. managed the project. Brook Engineering Group were responsible for structural integrity.
Image by George Weber
Muttart Conservatory 9626-96A Street NW Construction: 1975- 1976: 1980 (Greenhouses); 2019 - 2021 The Muttart Conservatory was enabled by a $1 million donation from the Gladys and Merrill Muttart Foundation. Designed in a Postmodern style by award-winning architect, Peter Hemingway, the conservatory opened in 1976. Hemingway built four pyramids to accommodate the height of plants and to provide a dramatic effect. Three pyramids housed plants from differing
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In July of 2019, construction to renew the facility was started. Upgrades to standards and codes, replacement of heating systems, better air quality, and new interior finishes, as well as lighting fixtures are part of the retrofit. A new entrance includes a fifth pyramid of black granite. There are custom art etchings, a new courtyard, gift shop, and café. The improvements were designed by RPK Architects and constructed by Graham Construction and Engineering Inc. Edmonton Construction Association | Summer 2021
1980s The optimism of the 1970s continued into the early 1980s. Edmonton was adding to the number of its downtown towers, the federal government was planning a downtown location, and a new attraction was being built in the west end. However, the good times were not to last. By 1986, many more oil-producing countries had stepped up production and the resulting glut depressed
the price of oil. Early in the decade, the Bank of Canada had fought inflation with double-digit mortgage rates, but with the collapse of oil prices, many Albertans found themselves with real estate that they could no longer afford. Three phases of West Edmonton Mall and the new Eaton’s Centre Mall opened in the decade, but other commercial and residential projects were abandoned.
Manulife Place 10180 101 Street NW Construction: 1981 – 1983 A bold and colourful example of Modernist architecture, Manulife Place was designed by Clifford Lawrie Bolton Ritchie Architects. Its coloured glass cladding and unique shape set it apart. At a height of 36 storeys, Manulife Place took the title of tallest Edmonton building from the south AGT Tower. It was to hold this distinction until Stantec Tower was completed in 2011. The tower was built with 745,000 square feet of office space and 103,000 square feet of retail. The general contractor was PCL in partnership with C.W. Carry. Read Jones Christoffersen provided the structural engineering. In 2018, Manulife Place
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was the first in Edmonton to receive its Wired Gold Certification and has recently received LEED EB Gold certification. The building is jointly owned by Manulife Investment Management and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo). Spurred on by the loss of Holt Renfrew, a $30 million investment is planned for the renewal of the building starting in the spring of 2021.
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Telus World of Science (Space Science Centre) 11211 142 Street NW Construction: 1984 The Edmonton Space Science Centre project was selected as Edmonton’s flagship project celebrating Alberta’s 75th anniversary. The building was first designed by award-winning architect Douglas Cardinal who took a futuristic
approach with the building form. State-of-the-art technologies were used for the building, including the best optics in the world for the planetarium. Bird Construction was the general contractor. After its opening in 1984, the Edmonton Space Sciences Centre immediately became one of northern Alberta’s premiere attractions. There have been several additions to the building, program expansions and name changes over the years. In 2005, the City of Edmonton entered a 20-year partnership with Telus that added the company name to the facility. The centre attracts over half a million visitors a year and has Canada’s largest planetarium dome theatre (the Zeidler Dome), as well as an IMAX theatre and multiple display galleries. Another expansion is planned, budgeted at $40 million, that would see the centre triple in size.
Canada Place 9700 Jasper Avenue Construction: 1985 - 1988 Designed by Fedor Tisch of WZMH Partnership, Canada Place is a Postmodern glass-and-steel office building that houses the main federal government offices for Edmonton and much of Western Canada. The building consists of two stepped office blocks, ranging from 15 to 13 storeys in height, connected by an atrium and features a distinctive pink colour and stepped shape, a design intended to resemble the shape of the maple leaf on the Canadian flag. Canada Place was built with 35-year lease/buy back arrangement with Trizec Equities Ltd. EllisDon Management Services was the management contractor.
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In 2006, a commissioned study to determine whether continued Crown ownership of Canada Place and other federal properties was costeffective concluded it was more prudent for the Crown to sell and lease back the building to a private developer. Nine buildings across Canada were sold in 2007 to Larco Investments Ltd., a Vancouver, B.C.-based company, and leased for 25 years.
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1990s The 1990s were a time of economic austerity. Several downtown high-rise buildings lost tenants and new subdivisions were put on hold. Real estate values plummeted. The City of Edmonton was able to get its new city hall built after several delays. As with many North American downtowns, Edmonton
had moved many of its residents to the suburbs. In the 1990s, a municipal subsidy for new downtown residential units turned a few commercial buildings into residential and some new residential buildings were added to the downtown. Mixed use was back in style.
Edmonton City Hall 1 Sir Winston Churchill Square Construction: 1931; 1979-1981 This award-winning Postmodern building was designed by Gene Dub Architects and constructed by Stuart Olson Dominion. The Edmonton City Hall includes a council chamber, offices for the mayor and councillors, committee rooms, office of the city manager, and a few city operations. Parking and connections to the light rail transit are underground. A large city room is central and a restaurant is located on the main floor at the southwest end of the building. There are historical and prairie references throughout the building. The eight-storey pyramid represents the Rocky Mountains; the stained maple walls are the colour of wheat; and the carpet, chairs, and walls in the council chambers are the
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sky. The chamber has a retractable pyramid ceiling and seats 200 people. Elements of the old city hall were built into the new structure. The six outside burgundy granite columns were salvaged from the exterior walls of the old building and the travertine tile in the new floor came from the former city hall. The outdoor plaza features a wading pool with fountains in the summer that converts to a skating rink in the winter. It also serves as an outdoor restaurant and a public plaza for special events.
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are regional forms, from the soaring ‘nave’ of the Learning Resource Centre to the jagged, mountainshaped lecture hall cluster overlooking the entry common. Flexible, daylighted theatre space, local materials, a high-performance envelope, and an underground thermal storage tank reduce the campus energy by more than 35 per cent when compared to conventional buildings of earlier eras.
Grant McEwan City Centre Campus 10850 104 Avenue Construction: 1991 - 1993 Located on the former site of the CN railyard, Grant McEwan City Centre Campus was designed and built in the Oxbridge model of Gothic architecture by architect Barry Johns and PCL Construction. The main complex is comprised of a long grouping of buildings stretching from east to west, differentiated by groupings of four concrete spires giving the campus a distinctive look. The south entrance to the main complex is contained within the centre-most of three groups of concrete spires and is marked by a large exterior clock. The Oxbridge model of gothic architecture was a requirement of the college president and its board. Stylistic interpretations are apparent, as
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2000s The first years of the 2000s continued the construction caution of the 1990s. Alberta Health Services in affiliation with the University of Alberta was able to build a children’s hospital in 2001. When an unexpected oil boom resulted from the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Alberta once again felt optimistic. In Edmonton, the emphasis on
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the revitalization of downtown continued with a campaign to replace the Art Gallery of Alberta. Between 2007 and 2009 an international financial crisis was caused by deregulation in the financial industry. Canadian banks did not fail, but funding for large-scale private sector projects remained difficult.
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Image by Ryan Jackson Photography
Art Gallery of Alberta 2 Sir Winston Churchill Square Construction: June 2007 - 31 January 2010 The Art Gallery of Alberta is a striking building in the heart of downtown that features a Zahner-manufactured curvilinear canopy and building envelope system. The building was designed by Randall Stout Architects with local firm HIP Architects in concert with Read Jones Christoffersen and Ledcor Group of Companies. The building was designed with the Northern Lights as a primary inspiration and includes a large curvilinear ribbon of stainless steel that wraps around the building. The ribbon is more than just an aesthetic consideration, it also collects ice and snow preventing it from falling on to public walkways and entrances. The stainless-steel skin of the building is also treated in a manner that reduces glare from the sun. The Art Gallery of Alberta is home to more than 6,000 works of art, primarily Canadian abstract paintings, and sculptures with a strong emphasis on the work of local artists.
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Image by Flickr user Darren Kirby via Creative Commons
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Stollery Children’s Hospital Construction: 1997 – 2001; Completed in 2002 It was a generous donation from Bob and Shirley Stollery that enabled the construction of the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Designed by Cohos Evamy Alberta Architecture Engineering Interior Design Ltd. and constructed by PCL as a “hospital within a hospital”, it is entirely contained within the Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre at the University of Alberta. It is one of the largest and most advanced tertiary/quaternary medical care and research facilities in Canada. The Stollery Children’s Hospital occupies parts of the fifth floor of the Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre
and although it is a distinct and independent entity, it shares the building and support facilities provided by this complex facility. The Walter Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre now has two occupants, the University of Alberta Hospital, and the Stollery Children’s Hospital.
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2010s Significant changes were made in downtown Edmonton during this decade. In 2011, plans for a new central provincial museum building were made. In 2013, the municipal airport was closed for good, allaying height concerns for new buildings. The long vacant railway lands were targeted for a new development that would house a new
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hockey arena, hotel, and several towers. The City of Edmonton consolidated much of its administration into a single tower. Bridges across the North Saskatchewan River and the Groat Ravine were replaced. Construction in The Quarters suffered from the collapse of international oil prices in 2014 and subsequent recession.
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Gallery and the Bug Gallery. Kubik Maltbie did the fabrication work for these galleries.
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Royal Alberta Museum 9810 103a Avenue NW Construction: February 2014 – August 2016
Announced on April 7th, 2011, construction began in February 2014 with a blessing by Indigenous Elder Francis Alexis, an historian with the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. The building was completed in August 2016, although it was not open to the public until September 12, 2018, allowing museum staff to transfer over two-million objects to the state-of-the-art facility.
The new Royal Alberta Museum building was designed and built by a team of designers and architects from Ledcor, DIALOG, and Lundholm Associates Architects, using Indiana limestone quarried from the same site as the material used for the Empire State Building in New York. Coming in at an impressive 419,000 square feet, the museum is the largest in western Canada. Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) were contracted to design both the Human History and Natural History galleries, as well as exhibits for the museum’s main foyer, while Lee H. Skolnick Architecture and Design Partnership was contracted to design both the Children’s
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Stantec Tower 10220 103 Avenue NW Construction: Fall 2014 - September 26, 2018 Located in the heart of Edmonton’s ICE District, Stantec Tower was designed and engineered by Stantec and constructed by PCL. The initial design consisted of 62 storeys at a height of 224 metres. However, the finalized design would consist of 69 storeys at a height of 251 metres, making it the tallest building in western Canada. A building of this nature and scale would inevitably run into unique challenges, requiring unique solutions. As Stantec Tower is essentially two buildings, a residential tower on top of an office tower, it required two different column grids. In order to accommodate the two grids into one structure, the Stantec and PCL teams designed and installed a two-metre-thick concrete transfer slab at level 30, allowing the weight of the residential tower to be evenly supported by the office tower below. This was achieved while simultaneously maintaining an impressive construction pace of roughly 3.3 metres a week. The builders and designers of Stantec Tower were recognized by the Engineering News-Record for demonstrating innovation by implementing safety measures to combat weather elements, as well as mitigating the risks to the public and workers.
Images by Jeff Nash / Edmonton Oilers
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The 141-foot-tall arena with seating for up to 20,000, is equipped with environmentally friendly fixtures and finishings, while being comprised of roughly 30 per cent recycled material. It also lays claim an ENR Award of Merit, as well as being the first Canadian LEED Silver certificate-certified NHL facility.
Rogers Place 10220 104 Avenue Construction: March 2014 - September 8, 2016 Rogers Place arena and its related infrastructure comes in at a whopping 1.1 million square feet and is the anchor of the largest sports entertainment area in Canada, the ICE District. Funded by multiple levels of government and private investors, and taking 30 months to build, the arena was the catalyst for over $5 billion of investment in Edmonton’s downtown. Such a large undertaking required a collaboration between several contractors, engineers, architects, and design firms. PCL Construction, Thornton Tomasetti, HOK, Flynn Group, Canam Structures, 360 Architecture, DIALOG, Manica Architecture, and Stantec all played major roles.
Images by Jeff Nash / Edmonton Oilers
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Walterdale Bridge 9308 105 Street NW #9324 Construction: 2013 – 2017 The new Walterdale Bridge was designed and built by a team of architects, engineers, and contractors from DIALOG, Acciona Pacer Joint Venture, and Allnorth to replace the existing Walterdale Bridge which had been in service for over 100 years. Construction began on the new Walterdale Bridge in early 2013 and was scheduled to be completed in late 2015; however, due to a delay in the delivery of steel girders, it did not fully open until September 18, 2017. The bridge is an important link in the city transportation system, carrying two traffic lanes northbound into downtown from Gateway Boulevard and 109 Street via Queen Elizabeth Park Road, and Walterdale Hill Road. The new bridge has three lanes for northbound vehicular traffic and improved pedestrian and cyclist crossings. The old bridge was demolished and removed. Roadway and trail links north and south of the bridge were partially complete, and the pedestrian access and all lanes opened on September 29, 2017.
Images By City of Edmonton
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Edmonton Construction Association | Summer 2021
business of notable local photographer, Ernest Brown. The original building is technically two separate, mirrored halves, each constructed using different types of brick.
Brighton Block Restoration 9666 Jasper Avenue Construction: 1911 – 1912; Restored: 2018 – 2020 The Brighton Block is an example of Edwardian architecture located in the Quarters district of downtown, one of the oldest developed areas of the city, and was constructed to house the
Early attempts at restoration failed and for years the building sat exposed to the elements, destroying the original interior. However, in 2018, Primavera Development hired Hodgson Schlif Evans Architects to redevelop the building. The project included notable companies such as Read Jones Christoffersen, MCW Hemisphere, ECCOM Consulting, and PCL Construction Management. The project team transformed the Brighton Block from a three-storey, derelict husk, to a modern, six-storey, mixed-use commercial space, all while maintaining its heritage value through the preservation of its historical façade.
Image By Primavera Development
Image By Daveography of Skyrise Edmonton
Image By Daveography of Skyrise Edmonton
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Edmonton Construction Association | Summer 2021