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+--- Thread: Victoria Commons (/showthread.php?tid=105)
RE: Victoria Commons - JCnb - 10-22-2014
The two blocks along Louisa: The first two units nearest the sales center are model units, 3 units are damaged and unoccupied until repaired, all others are occupied.
One block behind these units internal to the development (Backing onto the park) has a few units occupied and was not damaged in the fire. Two other blocks in front of those units are being re-built (These were the destroyed ones)
Two blocks along St. Leger are occupied and two blocks behind those, internal, are occupied. A few more blocks are also under construction.
RE: Victoria Commons - The85 - 10-23-2014
Don't think it's been reported, but Reid's Heritage Homes is building the condo apartment units.
RE: Victoria Commons - LKR4 - 12-02-2014
Is Reid's really building these? There's nowhere else that states this...
RE: Victoria Commons - realtyforward - 12-03-2014
(12-02-2014, 03:06 PM)LKR4 Wrote: Is Reid's really building these? There's nowhere else that states this...
My understanding is that Queensgate is building the apartment condos and that Losani is building all of the towns.
RE: Victoria Commons - JCnb - 12-04-2014
Losani Homes is indeed building the towns. Queensgate is the developer behind the condos, Reids is acting as general contractor doing the actual construction as far as I understand. As far as the condo's, they are currently working on the second level of underground parking on the phase 1 building.
RE: Victoria Commons - BuildingScout - 12-04-2014
Are there any recent pictures of this development? How far along has it moved?
RE: Victoria Commons - BuildingScout - 12-27-2014
I drove past this site today and I was impressed by its sheer size. I had only seen it once before when all it was was a boarded empty lot. It looks so much bigger now with about a dozen townhouse buildings already in site and a big dig with work in progress between them.
RE: Victoria Commons - nms - 02-13-2015
An interesting lobbying piece that ran as a full page ad in today's Globe and Mail from the Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers Association. Care to guess what they think of multi-storey wooden contruction?
RE: Victoria Commons - clasher - 02-13-2015
Well it does certainly seem like the BC codes were changed mostly to create a new market for lumber after the trade softwood lumber tarrif problems with the US. BC probably doesn't have as big of a concrete industry as it does a lumber one. I dunno if there are even steel mills out west, though there is an aluminum smelter in Kitimat.
I'm not really entirely convinced that it's all that better than steel or concrete (and glass curtain wall) at least those things are recyleable despite their massive carbon footprint. Making lumber requires kilning wood for long periods of time and lots of fossil fuels to harvest the wood from the forests... and increasing lumber demand with glulam beams or whatever else is going to mean more deforestation. I don't know if they can make glulam beams out of the same kind of fast-growing trees that are used for paper production. We're still harvesting lumber faster than it can re-grow so it seems like a bad idea to speed that up. I also doubt that glulam beams are gonna be easy or even worthwhile to recycle, and once a glulam building catches fire the smoke will likely be very toxic stuff.
Here's one comparison though it's not about engineered wood so much. It's also not a peer-reviewed paper so I dunno much about who wrote (could be a steel industry guy, who knows)
If I ever get a chance to build my own house it's going to be mostly steel frame and stone walls.
RE: Victoria Commons - tomh009 - 02-13-2015
(02-13-2015, 04:53 PM)nms Wrote: An interesting lobbying piece that ran as a full page ad in today's Globe and Mail from the Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers Association. Care to guess what they think of multi-storey wooden contruction?A colleague actually lived in that building until recently ... in this case, the fire was started by (unlicensed) workers doing plumbing repairs with a blowtorch. Those workers never reported the fire, and by the time the fire department was called, 22 minutes later, the fire was already growing out of control. Despite the severity of the fire, no one died or was severely injured.
In any case, Ontario building codes are not the same as New Jersey (or other states). I have confidence that Ontario codes are sufficient in terms of fire resistance to ensure that the occupants can exit safely in the case of a severe fire. And, yes, buildings with structural concrete or steel will burn, too.
RE: Victoria Commons - tomh009 - 02-13-2015
(02-13-2015, 07:13 PM)clasher Wrote: Well it does certainly seem like the BC codes were changed mostly to create a new market for lumber after the trade softwood lumber tarrif problems with the US.The shift to more wood for commercial construction was happening already before the softwood lumber war. A long, long time ago we worked on software for engineering wood buildings (not houses, where you normally just use tables). This was more than 20 years ago, long before the dispute started.
(02-13-2015, 07:13 PM)clasher Wrote: Making lumber requires kilning wood for long periods of time and lots of fossil fuels to harvest the wood from the forests... and increasing lumber demand with glulam beams or whatever else is going to mean more deforestation. I don't know if they can make glulam beams out of the same kind of fast-growing trees that are used for paper production. We're still harvesting lumber faster than it can re-grow so it seems like a bad idea to speed that up. I also doubt that glulam beams are gonna be easy or even worthwhile to recycle, and once a glulam building catches fire the smoke will likely be very toxic stuff.Glulam is made from softwoods, the same as paper. For recycling glulam and other engineered wood products, the glues will ne the challenge.
Not sure why you think we are harvesting lumber faster than it grows -- in Canada, deforestation is 99% driven by population and farm growth, not clear-cutting.
(02-13-2015, 07:13 PM)clasher Wrote: Here's one comparison though it's not about engineered wood so much. It's also not a peer-reviewed paper so I dunno much about who wrote (could be a steel industry guy, who knows)I have no idea about what the right answer is but the link seems to ignore the impact of minining and shipping iron ore, which is also not insubstantial. That said, I would be very happy to have a structural steel and concrete house -- including a concrete floor.
If I ever get a chance to build my own house it's going to be mostly steel frame and stone walls.
RE: Victoria Commons - BuildingScout - 02-13-2015
(02-13-2015, 07:14 PM)tomh009 Wrote: And, yes, buildings with structural concrete will burn, too.
Actually for the most part no they don't. We had over the last few years several fires in Toronto which completely consumed an apartment in a concrete building without spreading to any adjacent units.
RE: Victoria Commons - The85 - 02-13-2015
(12-03-2014, 10:32 AM)realtyforward Wrote:(12-02-2014, 03:06 PM)LKR4 Wrote: Is Reid's really building these? There's nowhere else that states this...
My understanding is that Queensgate is building the apartment condos and that Losani is building all of the towns.
RHC Design Build is the contractor building the apartment condos on behalf of Queensgate.
RHC = Reids Heritage Construction
RE: Victoria Commons - JCnb - 03-11-2015
The two levels of underground parking are complete for the first condo building along St. Leger. Wood walls are now rising from the first floor which surprised me... a 4 storey 77 unit wood condo?
RE: Victoria Commons - YKF - 03-11-2015
It's cheaper to build with wood than with steel/concrete. Wood-frame construction is permitted to achieve 6 storeys in Ontario.