Published September 2024
Making Home Project Taking Shape
97 Victoria will focus on the combination of housing, health and community, supporting those most left out of services, and connecting people with mental health and addiction supports. We are excited that the building of the 44 new units of housing is well underway. Also exciting is that the foundation for the new St. John’s Kitchen building is set to begin in mid-September. A third development is the building of a 3500 sq ft medical clinic. The clinic is designed for primary health care and programing such as low barrier access to addiction services, supportive therapy and groups, and ABI supports. This space will add to the in-the-community-approach to health care, mental health and addictions that The Working Centre and Community Health Caring (CHC) have developed.
Demolition and Transformation
By Katherine Bitzer
The transformation of 97 Victoria Street is well underway!
In February 2024, Govan Brown mobilized to site, and interior demolition began. This demolition work on the ground floor and the second floor of our existing building continued through March. In early April, with the receipt of our Building Permit for Foundation, Site Services and Under Slab Plumbing, work moved quickly ahead with the footings and foundation walls poured for the elevator and all 3 stairwells, and the waterproofing for the elevator pit. In addition, installation of below-grade plumbing on the ground floor got underway. This is a crucial part of the building process as we have worked with the whole design crew to ensure that the plumbing system is robust. This includes zoning the plumbing to create separate plumbing streams for St. John’s Kitchen as separate from the housing. We have even zoned some of the plumbing for the housing area, so as to limit plumbing backups that can be disastrous.
By the end of May, installation of the structural masonry and the structural steel for both the ground floor and the second floor was about 90% complete, and the below-grade plumbing on the ground floor was 95% complete.
Also completed is the demolition of the concrete annex building attached to 97 Victoria. For almost 20 years it was the storage/sorting area for Worth A Second Look. In early September, excavation will proceed for the foundation of the new St. John’s Kitchen building. There was also the partial demolition of the concrete block garage that was attached to Hospitality House. The demolition of 70% of the garage allows for the development of the courtyard space which is the main gathering area for the entrance to the housing, entrance to St. John’s Kitchen and entrance to the Primary Clinic space.
After our full Building Permit was issued the main work started to accelerate. June was a busy month with masonry, steel, mechanical and electrical contractors on site. The priority job was to erect the new third floor structural steel. This part of the construction process needed to be completed before construction could begin on the new St. John’s Kitchen building, as this area was needed for staging the steel work. We did experience a one month delay related to an unforeseen electrical issue at the front of the building. However, once the third floor structural steel work began, progress finally became visible for all to see!
In July, demolition for the roof openings (for the third floor stairs and elevator) was completed. One of the structural elements of the design are the three stairwells – the main entrance, and the two fire escape stairwells on either end of the building. All three of these stairwells are constructed of concrete block and have been mostly completed to the third floor.
On the hottest Friday of the summer in early August, the cement crew was on site to pour the 7500 square feet cement pad for the main floor. The 97 Victoria main floor is composed of two sections, the back half is made up of the area for the washrooms, showers, laundry, SJK storage, electrical room and the front half will be the Primary Health clinic. Also completed is the demolition work for the future main entrance.
As of September the exterior walls for the third floor are being framed and cladded. On the second floor the exterior framing is being completed so that rooms and plumbing can be marked out. All together there is good momentum as the construction project moves into the Fall.
Learn more about the project or donate at: www.97victoria.theworkingcentre.org
