BMO Centre milestone: Massive steel superstructure complete
Journal of Commerce by ConstructConnect | December 12, 2022
The massive steel superstructure of the $500-million BMO Centre expansion project in the Stampede Park grounds near downtown Calgary has been completed and hundreds of skilled trades have now turned their attention to enclosing the building so they can begin the inside work.
The three-storey, 560,000-square-foot expansion, to be completed in 2024, promises to be a state-of-the-art venue that will increase floor space of the centre to more than one million square feet, making it the largest convention facility in Western Canada and the second largest in the country.
The structure now stands taller than the adjacent GMC Stadium and Saddledome in Stampede Park.
“With the steel structure complete, crews will now turn their attention to completing the building envelope and making the structure weather tight, before moving inside to install drywall, elevators, electrical systems, and finishings,” explains Emma Stevens, director of communications and external relations for the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), development manager for the project.
“In addition to our design, consulting, engineering and management teams, there are currently approximately 400 trade workers onsite, including steel, mechanical, electrical, drywall and concrete crews.”
The final 90-foot piece of steel for the structure was set into place in early November. In just 11 months, crews installed 9,000 metric tonnes of steel to form the structure.
“This milestone was achieved efficiently thanks to our hard-working construction management and consulting teams at PCL Construction, RJC Engineers and Walters Group,” explains Stevens. “Most of the steel was delivered right before installation so that it could be taken off the trucks and put directly into the structure as it arrived, rather than holding it onsite for long periods of time.”
Steel for the project was fabricated in seven steel shops across Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan and a few shops in Europe. In the ballrooms, there are steel spans up to 180 feet long and 19 feet deep – the length and depth of an Olympic-sized swimming pool and allowing for impressive column-free space.