| |
Project Milestones
 Millennium Library Opens
September/October 2005 Update
July/August 2005 Update
May/June 2005 Update
Public Library Public Art Selected
Scotiabank makes Major Donation
March/April 2005 Update
January/February 2005 Update
Library Wins National Design Award!
November/December 2004 Update
September/October 2004 Update
August 2004 Update
July 2004 Update
June 2004 Update
May 2004 Update
April 2004 Update
March 2004 Update
Feb. 2004: Beginning of Construction
Nov. 2003 - Jan. 2004: Relocated Library Services
Nov. 2003 - Jan. 2004: Packing and Moving
Jan. - Nov. 2003: Library Prepares to Close for Renovations
September/October 2005 Update: Click here for slide show
Construction at the Millennium Library is proceeding on schedule. The second, third and fourth floors have been completed and work on the main level will be finished in October. In the library’s modern new lobby, the Human Bean Café is being drywalled and final touches are being applied to the Best of Friends Gift Shop. New entrance doors are being installed and the security gate is now in place.
But much is left to do before the Millennium Library is ready for its grand public opening. As shelving is set up, library staff are reassembling collections from 30,000 boxes containing close to 500,000 items. Other staff are configuring and installing public computers, planning signage, and working out public art details. New furniture and equipment will be arriving throughout the next few weeks, and everyone is working towards getting ready for the Grand Opening.
The public will soon experience a library unlike any other in the city. The architects’ award-winning design includes not only an extensive renovation of the existing three floors of the library, but also a new fourth floor, a multi-level reading terrace and a four-storey passive solar glass wall. We appreciate the public’s patience as we work out the final project details. The new Millennium Library will be well worth the wait.
* Top of Page
July/August 2005 Update: Click here for slide show
The Millennium Library is in the final stages of construction. Tiling and carpeting have been completed and painting and woodwork are mostly finished. ThyssenKrupp are continuing their work on the glass-walled elevators as other contractors finish off the circulation area. The Human Bean Café is taking shape and the Friends of the Library Gift Shop is near completion; this fall, patrons will discover both of these new amenities as they enter the Library’s expansive new lobby, which will also feature new entrance doors.
Changes are rapidly occurring on the fourth level where our staff are building shelving units and interfiling 200,000 books of the Millennium Library’s adult non-fiction collection, most of which had been warehoused during the building’s closure. Another 250,000 items from the main library’s collections - fiction, reference materials, children’s collections, special services, periodicals and micromedia - that had been relocated during construction will be organized as new shelving arrives. This work will continue into September.
In other good news, funding for the Millennium Library Park was recently announced as Phase II of the Centennial Library Millennium Project. A new park south of the library’s spectacular new facade will be created thanks to a $2.1 million investment from the Canada-Manitoba Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund.
* Top of Page
May/June 2005 Update: Click here for slide show
Like a fine wine, the Millennium Library is getting better by the month as work progresses slowly but surely on the Public Library’s downtown branch. Contractors are busy installing display cases and service counters. Others are preparing the floor for carpeting, putting in glass railings, installing oak panels and building elevator cars. As a first step in sprucing up the outdoor area behind the Library, the future reading garden has been paved. Work will soon start on fencing the perimeter of the garden.
Many areas of the Millennium Library are now close to completion. Over the next several weeks, workers will focus their efforts on finishing carpet, tile and ceramic tile, as well as painting doors and window frames. Workers are quietly concluding their work on all four levels of the Library.
The Library’s administration has already begun moving into the building. Shelving will start going up in June and collections will be trucked in throughout the summer months. All aspects of the move, leading up to this fall’s grand opening of the Millennium Library, will be chronicled in this space.
* Top of Page
March/April 2005 Update: Click here for slide show
The award-winning Millennium Library is starting to look like the finished product that the architects once envisaged. The 60 workers on the construction site are currently focussing their efforts on the top two floors.
“Oh, wow!” is the most commonly heard reaction when people first set eyes on the immense space of new fourth floor. The ceiling’s black tiles are now all in place and most of the glass railings have been installed. With workers fitting sections of the raised access floor at a rate of 2500 sq. ft. per day, it won’t be long for that job to be complete. The entire surface will then be covered in carpet tile. The raised floor serves to hide from view the inner workings of the space, including the pipes that will supply hot water to heat the reading terraces.
One floor down, the first pieces of millwork are in place and work is continuing on the staff desks and other finish carpentry that will be an essential feature of the new Library. Over the next several weeks, workers will focus on the elevator shaft, flooring, finishes and millwork. Planning is also underway for the outdoor work that will commence on the courtyard fence and the paving stones in the pool area, after spring thaw.
* Top of Page
January/February 2005 Update: Click here for slide show
Slowly but surely, the Millennium Library is continuing its journey toward completion. Scaffolding is being dismantled, floors are being levelled in preparation for carpet and vinyl, and installation of the glass elevators is about to begin.
Sanding and painting are progressing rapidly in the Carol Shields Auditorium and adjacent tutorial and meeting room complex. Millworkers will soon commence work on the desks, display cabinets and other carpentry that will harmonize with the white vastness of the walls. The future Local History Room has been developed into a large space that, later this year, will welcome genealogists and other researchers. And now that its sprinkler heads, lights and heat supply system have been tested, the grand fourth floor is bedecked with an attractive black ceiling. Soon to come is a new raised floor and a new public address system.
Pressure-plated caps are being applied to the glass curtain wall, providing the finished look. Workers are also finishing off the exposed sections of the wall with aluminium panels and silver flashing. Now that the project is well past the dramatic transformation wrought by heavy construction, changes are more subtle but just as pleasing.
* Top of Page
 November/December 2004 Update: Click here for slide show
John Patkau of Patkau Architects (Vancouver) and David Kressock of LM Architectural Group (Winnipeg) recently looked over the progress of construction on the Millennium Library. With work now into its eleventh month, the project is about to reach yet another milestone: by Christmas, the curtain wall’s 15,000 sq. ft. of glass will be substantially in place. As a result, the building that has been open to the elements since last winter will be closed in, allowing workers to focus on interior renovations. With the removal of the temporary hoarding walls that partitioned the various floors, the space is starting to look like what the public will see in the fall of 2005.
Work is also progressing in the lobby, where a new staircase is being installed; it will link the main floor to the skywalk. Across the way, the feature wall, future home of public art, now stands two stories tall.
On the fourth level, workers have erected a forest of scaffolding to allow them access to hard-to-reach areas; mechanical and electrical systems are being roughed in, a ceiling grid installed, and paint applied in surrounding areas. Elsewhere, drywallers continue to provide definition to the vast space that will be the Millennium Library.
* Top of Page
September/October 2004 Update: Click here for slide show
The Millennium Library is starting to look like the architectural drawings that were prepared many months ago. As they work toward closing in the building by mid-December, before the cold weather sets in, contractors have covered and sealed most of the roof. The end walls of the fourth floor now enclose a grand space that will use 411 sheets of exterior cladding, 873 sheets of interior drywall and 173 five-gallon pails of drywall mud.
The trusses are being spray-painted prior to the installation of the glass panels. The curtain wall is expected to take over a month to complete. With most of the heavy lifting now done, the tower crane will be removed from the construction site during the Thanksgiving long weekend.
On the second floor, contractors are continuing their drywall, priming and painting work. In the lobby, a new staircase will soon connect the main floor and the second floor skywalk. As well, the elevator superstructure, which one day will accommodate panoramic glass cabs, is now in place.
* Top of Page
August 2004 Update: Click here for slide show
Along with their colleagues on the Millennium Library project, construction managers Roger Stearns and Ken Stinets continue to forge ahead. The skylight installation is now complete and workers have begun putting the finishing touches on the new roof. Those who are applying the exterior wall finish have moved to the Canada Post side of the building.
Fire protection sprinkler lines are being installed amidst an assemblage of steel. Yet more concrete is being poured as a wall of trusses goes up, from West to East. Given their 78-ft. length, these trusses need to be trucked in under police escort! A new concrete slab has been poured where once there were escalators. In-floor tubing, used for both heating and cooling, is being installed in the reading terraces area.
The previously small entrance at Donald & Graham is being expanded, not only inward but also upward. The ceiling has been cut out to reveal the beginnings of a new two-storey foyer, home to a future grand staircase on one side and a great piece of public art on the other.
* Top of Page
July 2004 Update: Click here for slide show
From many vantage points along the streets that border the Millennium Library, passers-by get good views of the construction as the building changes from day to day. Much of the activity is currently focused on the fourth floor, which is gradually being enclosed under a new roof.
Perched on scaffolding and obscured by protective netting, workers on the cityplace side of the building are applying acrylic stucco over four inches of insulating material. On the Canada Post side of the library, steelworkers have raised the first trusses that will eventually extend the length of the building. These huge structures will support the glass curtain wall.
Off St. Mary Ave., the reading terraces are taking concrete form. Workers are pouring terraces at the rate of one a day and will continue building what looks like a colossal staircase for the next several weeks. Down below, new structural elements related to the elevator pit are changing the configuration of the parkade, where some drive aisles are currently blocked. This work should be finished by the end of August.
* Top of Page
June 2004 Update: Click here for slide show
A few members of the Library staff toured the Millennium Library construction site to get a first-hand look at the building’s development, with particular attention paid to relocated and expanded public areas. Children’s Services, for example, which used to be on the second floor, will make its new home on the main level, in the process growing from 8,000 to 14,000 sq. ft.
With the new fourth floor of the Library clearly taking shape against Winnipeg’s skyline, the construction is beginning to alter the downtown landscape. What was once the roof has now become the floor of the fourth level, which will become the city’s grandest reading room.
On the St. Mary Ave. side of the building, workers have erected scaffolding, built forms, and begun pouring concrete for the uppermost sections of the reading terrace. Exterior wall framing has started and will be followed by the application of exterior insulation and finish.
* Top of Page
May 2004 Update: Click here for slide show
Our mid-May blast of wintry weather hasn’t affected work on the Millennium Library. Steel studs have been multiplying throughout the building and, now that plumbing and electrical work is mostly complete, doors frames by the dozen will soon be installed. Over the next several weeks, hundreds of sheets of drywall will enclose the walls, starting to transform the space into the great public building that is the library.
Under the watchful eye of Carlos Andrade, the crane operator who sits perched 112 feet above the ground, workers are erecting steel on the fourth floor in preparation for the metal roof decking to be installed in the next few weeks. They have also begun pouring concrete for the new reading terrace structure.
Seen up close, the back wall of the library is reminiscent of a bombed out building, the likes of which we’ve sadly become accustomed to seeing on the nightly news. We are fortunate, however, to live in a part of the world where construction rather than destruction is the order of the day. Lyle Penner, our intrepid photographer, dared scale the heights of the gigantic crane to bring you the accompanying bird’s eye views of the Millennium Library construction site.
* Top of Page
April 2004 Update: Click here for slide show
The Millennium Library project is proceeding according to plan and, in some respects, is even ahead of schedule. Demolition is substantially complete, except for the removal of the roof. With the arrival of the tower crane, the precast concrete panels have been coming down like children’s Lego pieces.
Measuring 186 ft. from the tower to the forward tip, the gigantic crane is the star of the show. The operator has already lifted the largest piece on this project, an 11,700-lb. steel beam that was custom made in Winnipeg. The beam will help support the additional load of the new fourth floor.
Inside the building, steel stud framing is already complete on all three floors, apart from an area on the main level. Up on the roof, steel columns and beams will eventually form the shell of the Library’s new fourth floor, which will rise to a height of 35 feet. The concrete elevator shaft and stair shafts are currently being expanded upward to the fourth level. Down below, in the upper parkade, work will soon begin on installing beams for the elevator pit.
* Top of Page
March 2004 Update: Click here for slide show
Work is proceeding on a number of fronts. Inside the building, a great deal of material has been hauled away and the site will be further cleaned up for new construction work. Outside, demolition is well underway and scaffolding has been erected to protect passers-by.
In the parkade, six pillars are being excavated for the installation of pipe piles that are being jacked in to a depth of 40 to 50 feet. As well, 20 other column supports are being expanded to support the additional weight of the new structure to be built above. Work in the parkade is expected to be completed by early April, after which finding a parking spot should prove a little easier than it has been over the past several weeks.
Workers have completed the crane base, which is 23 feet square and 4 and 1/2 feet deep. Underpinning the base are four 28-inch diameter piles extending 40 to 50 feet down to the glacial till, for a total concrete weight of 360,000 lbs. To put that in perspective, that equates to almost half the weight of a fully loaded Boeing 747!
* Top of Page
Feb. 2004 - Beginning of Construction: Click here for slide show
To prepare the now renamed Millennium Library for construction, the site has been fenced in, from the front entrance of the Library at Donald & Graham to the back of the park. Work has begun on reinforcing the building’s foundation to support the weight of the glazed curtain wall and four-story reading terrace. Although building up the pillars has required cordoning off sections of the parkade, it remains open to monthly parkers. Casual public parking has been reduced during the day, but the parkade is open for full casual parking after 5:00 p.m. weekdays and on weekends. Public access to the skywalk from the parkade has been maintained.
In the parkade, workers have also built the foundation for the base of the tower crane, which will be assembled on the site in April. The crane will be used throughout much of this year for both demolition and construction.
Within the Library, demolition is well underway: mechanical and electrical equipment has been removed, floor tiles have been jack hammered, walls demolished and glass panes taken away. The Millennium Library project currently employs some 60 workers, a number that will rise to about 150 this summer. All told, the construction will incorporate over 1000 cubic meters of concrete, 350 tons of structural steel, 100 tons of reinforced steel, 100,000 sq. ft. of carpet and 15,000 sq. ft. of glass for the curtain wall.
The transformation will involve major changes to the existing three floors of the Library and the addition of a fourth floor as well as changes to the skywalk, the parkade and the park behind the Library. The staff of Winnipeg Public Library are committed to providing a high level of service with access to as much of the collection as possible during the construction of the Millennium Library.
* Top of Page
 Nov. 2003 - Jan. 2004 - Relocated Library Services: Click here for slide show
Winnipeg Public Library provides a full range of circulation services from the cityplace branch, which is open at cityplace Shopping Centre, 333 St. Mary Avenue, across from Centennial Library. The branch is on the second floor, next to True North Live. Hours of operation are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. For more information, call 311.
St. James-Assiniboia Library, 1910 Portage Avenue, is temporarily housing Information & Reference services as well as various collections moved from downtown. Library staff are taking questions in person, by phone (311) or by e-mail at eref@winnipeg.ca. Customers who are deaf or hard of hearing may call the TTY line at 986-3485.
St. Boniface Library, 131 Provencher Blvd., the closest branch to Centennial Library, has accessible space available for services to people with disabilities. During the closure of the Centennial Library, it is housing the Special Services Department as well as selected collections, including National Film Board videos, music scores, adult and children’s CD-ROMs, talking books for registered print-handicapped customers, large-print books, descriptive and closed-captioned videos, children’s Braille books, text magnifiers and a talking terminal. For more information, call 311.
* Top of Page
 Nov. 2003 - Jan. 2004 - Packing and Moving: Click here for slide show
“Deconstructing” the Centennial branch of Winnipeg Public Library proved to be a monumental undertaking. Starting with non-public areas, we relocated individual departments of the Library while the rest of our staff stayed behind to pack and move the rest of the building. Cataloguing, Processing, Acquisitions and Information Technology were the first to make the trip out to their new home in Charleswood.
Having determined the sequence of installations at all new locations (from the temporary Shipping Depot on William Ave. to the branches receiving additional services and extending their hours), we dismantled 25,000 pieces of shelving and labelled boxes, computers, keyboards, mice, printers, furniture, cabinets and everything in sight with destination information. With the help of hired movers, our staff packed and redistributed the entire contents of Centennial Library around the city.
The Library move would consume some 30,000 boxes, thousands of labels, hundreds of marking pens and rolls of tape and, most importantly, thousands of person-hours. Alongside the work of our various partners from the worlds of management, consulting, architecture and construction, these efforts will result in a signature building that will serve as the new living room of our community.
* Top of Page
 Jan. - Nov. 2003 - Library Prepares to Close for Renovations: Click here for slide show
The last days of the Centennial Library were hectic ones indeed. For the public, it was important to stop by one last time before the building closed, often to borrow more books than usual, sometimes to say goodbye to the staff. For our staff, especially those who had spent the better part of a career at the venerable downtown branch of Winnipeg Public Library, remembrances of things past mingled with an ongoing eagerness to provide public service in the present day. One million people visited the Centennial Library every year; closing the building would have a major impact on the downtown and on many city neighbourhoods.
The planning process to close the Library on November 1, 2003 began many months prior to that date. We faced the challenge of a job that none of us had tackled before, that of preparing 139,000 sq. ft. of space for renovation and construction. We gave ourselves 10 weeks to relocate 450,000 items and hundreds of pieces of furniture and equipment before the arrival of the first construction crew.
We established work teams and looked at floor plans. We considered alternate service locations downtown and settled on cityplace Shopping Centre. We selected branches to receive relocated services and still others that could serve as storage facilities. Having identified collections that would be transferred to new and existing locations, we did extensive database management work.
Our staff produced posters, handouts, newspaper ads and other public information pieces. We ordered boxes, labels and signage, and arranged to move wiring and cabling, phone lines and computer lines. We inventoried our furniture and equipment and understood, as with anyone who pulls up stakes, how much we owned, how much the citizens of Winnipeg own in public library collections.
* Top of Page
|
