Graham is providing Construction Management services for the Cameron Community Centre and Library project, located in Burnaby, BC. This 213,000 sq. ft. facility will serve as the civic heart of the Lougheed District Town Centre, enriching local infrastructure and supporting the community’s growing needs.

Facility Amenities

The new facility, which is four times larger than the one it replaces, will include a 26,000 sq. ft. library, a large aquatic area with a lap pool, leisure pool, lazy river, and warm pool. It will also feature double gymnasiums, a 10,000 sq. ft. weight room and cardio facility, indoor running track, fitness studios, multipurpose rooms, a childcare facility with both interior and exterior playgrounds, revitalized outdoor leisure spaces, and a civic plaza. Dedicated spaces for seniors, teens, digital media, music, sensory experiences, and other community offerings will ensure the facility serves people of all ages, needs, and interests.

Hybrid Mass Timber Construction

The building will be a hybrid composite of steel and mass timber, including CLT roof and floor slabs, glulam beams and columns, and extended CLT canopies. Additional highlights include a living green roof with over 200 solar panels, a feature staircase with ample seating, a large outdoor amphitheater, 145,000 sq. ft. of parkade space, and secured public bicycle parking. As a post-disaster-rated building, the facility is also designed to remain operational in the event of a seismic event.

Net-Zero Target

The new community centre is designed to achieve net-zero carbon targets, featuring all-electric, low-carbon HVAC and pool mechanical systems, and a robust thermal envelope to minimize energy consumption. The use of Mass Timber in the structure further contributes to carbon reduction.

The intent for this enhancement project was to improve the pedestrian environment and create a gateway space that showcases a clear entry at BCIT’s Burnaby Campus and create a social hub for the campus.

The space includes improved pedestrian flow, weather protection, a clear key arrival place on campus, and utilizes sustainable features including efficient water irrigation systems and the unique, one-off design of a cantilevered Mass Timber canopy composed of a cross-laminate timber (CLT) roof deck and a combination of steel and CLT columns.

The scope of this new landmark gateway within the existing BCIT Burnaby campus included:

• Civil works including all underground services and relocation of services
• New paving stones walkway throughout the site
• Improved wayfinding
• Custom landscaping with specialized benches that include wifi bollards
• 300ft Mass Timber canopy

Located near Portage la Prairie, west of Winnipeg on the Trans-Canada Highway, this highway bypass project involved various stages and complexities to manage ongoing high volumes of traffic while allowing construction to progress. The bypass was a critical project for the Province of Manitoba.

Project Overview

The work included replacing an overpass bridge, rehabilitating a bridge over CP tracks, constructing two highway roundabouts to safely merge traffic entering and exiting Portage la Prairie with high-speed highway vehicles, and reconstructing approximately 13 lane kilometers of adjacent Trans-Canada Highway. The new overpass is a two-span precast prestressed concrete box girder bridge founded on steel h-piles, with cast-in-place substructures and superstructure, and designed for a 75-year service life to meet all new applicable standards, including an increased vertical opening.

Project Execution

Graham managed the coordination, quality, and safety of the work performed by our subtrade partners, including girder fabrication, erection, and extensive roadworks. Graham self-performed the bridge cast-in-place concrete, including large gang formwork, as well as the median barrier and drainage swale.

The project required 1,400 linear meters of median barrier to be slip-formed which involved significant planning and collaboration. Alongside the median barrier, a 5,000 square meter cast-in-place concrete drainage swale was constructed using a modified Bidwell bridge deck finishing machine. This setup allowed for efficient and accurate placement of the swale concrete, ensuring strong quality control measures were met.

Project Overview

The Jaipur Bridge project involved the removal of the aging Jaipur Bridge and its replacement with a 6-meter-wide, 60-meter-long pedestrian bridge connecting Calgary Downtown to Prince’s Island over a lagoon, which is part of the Bow River. The construction required isolating the lagoon and building a temporary berm to facilitate demolition and construction within the Bow River Lagoon. This bridge is integral to Calgary’s flood resiliency plan, designed to withstand a 1:100-year flood. The bridge structure includes drilled piles, steel piers, steel tub girders, and a cast-in-place deck. As a gateway bridge to the island, it features numerous architectural details, including a Matacryl wear surface in a wave pattern on the deck, stainless steel railings with wood benches, laser-cut flowers backlit to create patterns on the deck, and formliner for an architectural finish on the underside of the concrete deck. The project also included pathway connections, electrical and ITS installations, and habitat restoration in the adjacent park space, including planting beds, native bee habitats, and naturalized riparian areas.

Environmental Management

Graham designed a berm and pipeline bypass system to manage flood surge flow from the Bow River and City storm outfalls discharging into the lagoon. Hourly turbidity monitoring was conducted during active work to ensure compliance with turbidity requirements at the downstream outlet. This data supported a transition to passive monitoring using a camera system and plume monitoring during rainfall events. All Water Act requirements, including decontamination procedures for Whirling disease, were followed, and environmentally friendly oils were used in all equipment that entered the water body. Graham also accelerated fish salvage efforts by isolating areas and operating pumps to reduce water levels, creating a smaller working space for salvage operations.

Project Completion

The bridge was opened to the public three weeks ahead of schedule.

In 2013, Calgary faced a significant natural disaster with downtown and nearby areas affected by extensive flooding, marking the largest such incident in Canadian history at the time. Over a two-year period, Graham successfully executed the Flood Barrier project, a continuous 1.39 km long structure comprising steel sheet piles, earthen berms, concrete walls, and demountable stop log openings designed to withstand a 1:200-year flood event. Simultaneously, the Eau Claire Promenade underwent rebuilding and revitalization, a crucial component of Calgary’s extensive riverside pathway system.

Scope of Work

Stretching from the new Jaipur Bridge to the 4th Avenue flyover, the Downtown Flood Barrier Project includes a sheet pile flood wall with demountable flood barriers, upgrades to the Centre Street Bridge ramps, a new lagoon dock, utility installations, hardscaping, and landscaping. The Centre Street precast wall included the installation of a cofferdam, along with in-water piling and earthworks. This project involved numerous stakeholders and unique architectural elements, including a feature dock, signage, and benches. Working in the downtown core required extensive pathway and road detours, as well as interfacing with the public.

Environmental Management

Environmental management was crucial on this project, which included in-stream works in the Bow River and management of existing contaminated materials. Construction of the MSE wall for Centre Street required the installation of a turbidity curtain, construction of a berm and working platform within the river, drilled piles in the wet, and re-establishment of the armored bank. A water treatment system was implemented to ensure that all water discharged from the isolation complied with the Water Act Approval.

Most areas of the project were considered contaminated, and Graham worked with the City of Calgary and the environmental consultant to carry out a detailed testing program to characterize the soil across 1.3 km of riverfront. Materials were segregated, and over 10,000m³ of soil was exported and replaced as contaminated waste. Graham was also responsible for the development, implementation, and maintenance of Erosion and Sediment Control and Tree Protection plans across many different work fronts over three years.

Project Completion

The project opened six months ahead of schedule.