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Construction News
12 a 18 de Janeiro de 2007
29
Construction News Suplemento - nº 157 - Janeiro 2007
Construction News Written Submission to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Standing Committee on General Government
Weather slows dam construction
Rain sets London project back by two months
For most construction
projects, the arrival of
colder weather is a nuisance.
That's definitely not the
case for those conducting a major
overhaul of the Springbank dam
in London.
"If it would freeze up, it would
actually be better for us," said
Murray McLean, whose company,
the St. Marys-based McLean
Taylor Construction Ltd., is the
contractor for the municipal project.
Plagued by rain since
September, the project is now two
months behind its original schedule.
In October, the rain was so
bad, work stopped for the month,
said Ron Cook, who is with Hatch
Energy, the project's engineers,
and is monitoring the overhaul for
the city.
"We've had seven flood
events," he said. A December
snowstorm that dumped between
two and three feet of snow was the
icing on the cake.
"We were going to haul material
that day, but they were saying
'keep off the roads,'" Cook said,
noting the storm shut down the
whole city.
To cope with the higher-thannormal
water levels they raised a
temporary access ramp but other
than that, "we're at the mercy of
the river," said Brad Weber, an
engineering technologist with the
city.
Pressure is on to meet a March
31 completion deadline and
McLean said three crews will be
added to the two existing ones this
week to recoup time.
Imposed by the Ministry of
Natural Resources, the deadline is
intended to ensure fish may travel
upstream to spawn uninterrupted
by construction activity.
Ron Standish, the city's director
of wastewater and treatment
environmental and engineering
services, said the dam is used to
create a popular recreational boating
area in summer. It does not
operate at other times of the year.
The major focus of the project
is replacing the wood stop log
damming system with steel
hydraulic gates.
Each of the four new custom
designed gates measures 50 feet
by 25 feet.
They are so massive they have
to be delivered to the site in two
sections. Once in place, the gates
will ensure a more efficient, less
labour-intensive operation.
So far, the project is nearly $3
million over the original budget
estimate of $4.2 million, Standish
said.
The level of difficulty the project
poses as well as rising construction
costs are the main reasons
behind the added expense, he
said.
Standish noted it's not just the
weather that has earned the project
Workers drain water from beneath the Springbank dam. The dam, located on the
Thames River in London, is getting hydraulic gates to replace outdated stop locks.
Work on the project is significantly delayed because of rainy weather.
its "unique" status. Concerns
raised by recreational fishermen
about the dam's impact on fish
spawning activity have thrust it
into the provincial media limelight,
he said.
However, "at the end of the
day, we were able to convince the
Ministry (of Natural Resources)
that we had gone through a class
EA (environmental assessment)
process and we had done everything
properly," he said.
Still, the city has hired a biologist
to track fish migration in the
area, he said.
Other features include:
• The dam will retain a piece
of the city's built heritage because
the original pier structure,
unchanged since the dam was first
built in 1928, will remain.
• In a quirky twist, Hatch
Energy is a descendant of the
company hired to design the original
dam nearly a century ago.