Spectacular New Mary J L Black Public Library In Westfort!
by Scott A. Sumner
When you drive by the West Thunder Community Centre on Edward Street in the Westfort area you may just do a double take when you see the beautiful new 9000 square foot building which will be the new home of the Mary JL Black Thunder Bay Public Library. The attractive design has been under construction since June of 2010 by Thunder Bay’s Aurora Construction.
“ It is rewarding when you see some architectural detail. Once it is done you feel good about the work. It is a good looking building on the outside and we are just finishing the inside now. The features are really starting to show now,” said Peter McCart, President of Aurora
Construction of Thunder Bay.
“ Our schedule had us finishing around the middle or end of March and we are about a week later which is pretty good given the complexity. It has come together on budget with out too many surprises,” said Gino Sonego Secretary-Treasurer of Aurora. “ The land is shared with West Thunder Community Centre so the parking was redeveloped to coordinate that as they will be sharing the parking lot. There was some time taken at the beginning on placing the orientation of the building. The site work was quite major with site services, storm sewer and the foundation with lots of excavation. It is a footing foundation wall with a slab on top at grade level. It is kinda of a floating foundation that is all one piece but might move on its own a
little bit.”
The new building is on 1 level. When you come in the centre area is open and two stories up so is a really impressive entrance. There are exposed wood beams and it is fairly open. The exterior is a lot of glass with a curved front curtain wall and some gray slate looking concrete stone with some stucco and siding. There are manufactured beams that provide an appealing layout. It has a warm wood ceiling that flows down to a fireplace and will be more of a gathering place where people will tend to stay and read. There will be kids play area inside and an outdoor climbing area.
“ The building is a Silver LEED building which takes into account the lightning and heating systems and so on. The architect John Knox of Chamberlain Architect has done may libraries including the one in Fort Frances which we constructed. This helped us working before with
John, said Peter McCart. “ We were the low tender on the project. You put all the pieces together and bid. How long will it take you to dig that hole or put that wall together is sometimes a guess. Experience come with it I guess that but everything worked out well. If you can finish on your schedule you have done well. All the pieces came together nicely.”
Aurora Construction had 15 to 20 subtrades on the project with up to 25 people on site at any given time. The value of the project was $ 4 million. “ It is a nice looking building and will fit well in the area they have selected. It will be very inviting for the kids in the neighbourhood.” said Gino Sonego.
The economy looks favourable moving forward in Thunder Bay according to both Gino and Peter of Aurora. “ I think all the sub trades will be working. The recent announcement at Abitibi Bowater with their energy plans will help as well,” said Peter McCart. “ There is a lack of
subtrades out there so as soon as it gets a little active here everyone is busy. Some trades have moved away or retired and there is not as many in certain areas. There is a good opportunity for young people to get into the trades.”
“ Our sub trades were very good to work with. The beginning of the project was a little challenging at the start due to the West Thunder Centre being open with weddings etc but once the project started everyone came together and worked well to get the project done in a
timely process.”
The Mary JL Black library design has come from John Knox, Vice President Chamberlain Architect Services Limited based in Burlington, Ontario and his team. “ Our firm has worked on many libraries including one in Fort Frances. Currently there are 5 library projects we are working on or finishing,” said John Knox. “ There is a lot of thought going into all libraries today. They are turning into pretty exciting buildings with more glass and natural lighting which makes a huge difference. If you look back 20 years ago they were very different. Today’s libraries are more opened up to the community with more programs and electronic services. They are now more welcoming, more comfortable and more of a community centre. Today libraries and
community centers can be together. The new Mary JL Black will be adjacent to the West Thunder Community Centre.”
“ The Mary JL Black project went very well. The library staff was great to work with. There is a lot of information we needed from them including their goals and objectives. We listen to that. It is your community and we try to reflect what you want,” said John Knox. “ Ed Cameron of SNC Lavalin was the project manager and was worth his weight in gold on the project. He is a very knowledgeable guy with a strong back ground in architecture and was very positive to the project. Aurora is a good general contracting company, the right size for the job and had their hearts in the right place. They did what they said they would do.”
