Rogers Centre (Ottawa Convention Centre) | 30.45m | 4-5 fl | Completed

[waterloowarrior]

from the Ottawa Business Journal

Search begins for Congress Centre builder
By Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Thu, Feb 21, 2008 1:00 PM EST


The hunt is on for a company to build Ottawa's new Congress Centre.

The board of the Congress Centre began an official search earlier this week for a company that will demolish the existing building, and design, build and finance the new centre.

"This marks a major step forward in our redevelopment process for Canada's new convention centre," OCC chair Jim Durrell said in a statement. "It is our intention through this process to partner with the best in the industry so that we complete the construction and meet every specification, on time and within budget."

Applications for the initial stage, a "request for qualifications," are due by March 17. The board will review the submissions and announce a short-list of three proponents by the end of March.

"The project is moving ahead on schedule which will enable our marketing team to book meetings and conventions for opening day in April 2011 and for years to follow," said OCC president Patrick Kelly.

The short-listed proponents will be asked to respond to a "request for propsal" to be issued in April. The three final proposals are required to be submitted in June, and the successful bidder will be selected by the end of July. Final project agreements are to be signed in September and demolition of the existing building will begin immediately after.

[Aylmer]

And Not Claridge!

[waterloowarrior]

article on the congress centre's community outreach

[AuxTown]

Ottawa . Plans for the new Ottawa Congress Centre will oblige construction workers hired for the project to contribute money or labour to community improvement projects, the centre's board announced Friday....Building and Construction Trades Council (which represents construction unions), said that the parties would aim for about $300,000 for each year of construction.

Centre spokeswoman Kathryn Hendrick said she hopes the project will set new standards for public buildings. Besides the demands of the winning construction company and its workers, she said, the new convention centre will be environmentally friendly. Toilets, for example, will use collected rain water.

This may not be the tallest project in Ottawa currently, but I consider it to be the most important. That area around the canal should be the most spectacular spot in the core and it is currently mediocre at best. The designs for the building look great, we will be able to attract much larger trade shows/conferences, and some of the second-hand benefits (mentioned above) make this the most important project in years for the capital. A LRT project would be nice too .

[the capital urbanite]

Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey

This may not be the tallest project in Ottawa currently, but I consider it to be the most important. That area around the canal should be the most spectacular spot in the core and it is currently mediocre at best. The designs for the building look great, we will be able to attract much larger trade shows/conferences, and some of the second-hand benefits (mentioned above) make this the most important project in years for the capital. A LRT project would be nice too .

...hoping that the chosen design is nothing like these concept drawings!

...it would be nice to see a cafe and/or retail at ground level on the Colonel By side.

[adam-machiavelli]

I also don't consider the design to be all that inspiring. The style is similar to the new Opera House in Toronto. Don't you agree?

[eemy]

I quite like it. I'm not sure every street is an appropriate candidate for a retail strip, and I'm not going to fault this design for lacking it. It does have an excellent street presence which is very pedestrian friendly. That alone makes it a billion times better than the existing Congress Centre.

[Mille Sabords]

I'm with haak on this one, it's a much better looking building than the one there and it will breathe its own type of activity toward the street (and not suck semblances of life into a subterranean tunnel-entrance, etc.).

Bring it on.

[Cre47]

http://www.ctvottawa.ca/servlet/an/local...s_Centre_080507/20080507/?hub=OttawaHome

[AuxTown]

The Congress Centre will be demolished and replaced by a state of the art facility by 2011 which is expected to be the fourth largest in Canada.

Whether you totally like the design or not, this is great news! I'm very optimistic about our city's future with landmark projects like this moving through council with much less resistance than we would expect to see from those nitpickers. I really like the open-air entranceway, which looks to be at least 3 storeys tall. It will definately be a much more inviting entrance to those looking from the canal than the current situation.

New vs. Current

[Cre47]

Council approves $40 million funding 22 to 2 with the same two dissents, Doucet and Legendre

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=0f3cc730-b921-474d-ba20-53466b08e504

[Cre47]

http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/291702345962522.php

[AuxTown]

-Ground level will be the main lobby containing administration office, some meeting space and retail.

-Second floor: Approximately 55,000 square feet of meeting space in several configurations bordered by 25,000 square feet of pre-function space.

-Third floor: (Multi-purpose floor) 65,000 square feet of column-free space bordered by 25,000 square feet of pre-function space. Above that pre-function space will be a 23,000 square-foot ballroom on the north-east corner of the building overlooking Parliament and the Canal.

Now that is a lot of meeting space! This will really put Ottawa on the map in terms of conferences and large meetings. I heard that they have already taken a number of reservations for the new facility and it doesn't even open for another 3 years! I guess construction delays are not an option then.

[c_speed3108]

This definitely a big improvement to the city

I had planned a not huge (125 delegates or so) conference here about 4 or 5 years ago. It is amazing how few places there are in the city which can accommodate something even that size (I can only imagine the logistics in doing something considerably larger!). In our case the conference had 3 parallel tracks which created the requirement for lots of breakout rooms and such plus we were feeding everyone so we needed dining rooms three times a day on top of that.

We ended up at the Crowne Plaze (and I have little bad to say about the place). We gave them about $25000 in business over 3 days. Our other good possible choice was the Westin. There were a couple others that did not quite make the grade in terms of facilities or cost.

[Richard Eade]

Looks like they are making money already: The original estimate for cost was $159M. Fed. = $50M, Prov. = $50M, City = $40M, Congress Centre (CC) = $19M. For that contriburion, the City wanted the CC to squirrel away 1.5% of the total construction cost to help pay for any tunnel Transit station under the CC. This would amount to about $2.38M All agreed.

Fast forward to now: Total to be put aside for the transit station is now a fixed $1.5M. This was justified because the total construction costs have been refined to $115M. (Yes, $1.5M is still not 1.5% of $115M, but the Councillors don't seem to be able to work that out. When Legendre asked, he was told it was "close" by Kirkpatrick and the issue was dropped.) I guess the City will need to cough up the extra $0.9M when the station is built.

So building the new CC is now going to cost $115M. Fed. = $50M, Prov. = $50M, City = $40M, CC = $-25M. So the CC now has government grants totalling $25M more than their refined construction costs. I guess they don't need to throw in their $19M anymore, either.

[c_speed3108]

Congress Centre promises a green future
Jake Rupert, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, June 16, 2008

OTTAWA - Congress Centre officials want their new facility to be the most environmentally friendly convention centre in North America.

At a press conference this morning, officials announced they are aiming to have the new centre, which will replace the existing facility and is to open in 2011, certified "silver" under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system.

This will involve heat recapturing systems, using outside temperatures for cooling, using locally sourced construction materials, more energy-efficient materials, and a host of other things all designed to lower the environmental impact of the building.

Under LEED, buildings can be classed certified, silver, gold or platinum, depending on several environmental factors such as energy and water efficiency, recycling programs, and building materials.

The centre's board chairman and former Ottawa mayor Jim Durrell said the board wants to pursue a gold certification but because the current and new building is hooked into the federal government's central heating system, the cost would have been prohibitive.


© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

.

[c_speed3108]

Claridge it is!!!!

[okay just kidding]

Flower Power? or the trampled tulip?

Tulip design for Congress Centre

$159M project called Ottawa's 'crystal' palace

By DEREK PUDDICOMBE, Sun Media

It will be Ottawa's "crystal" palace.

The design of the new Ottawa Congress Centre will take the shape of a large glass tulip laid on its side that will eat up two of the four lanes on Colonel By Dr.

The OCC board announced this morning that PCL Constructors and Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects will demolish, design, build and finance the $159-million project expected to be completed and open in the spring of 2011.

The board said the new design will reflect one of the city's most prominent symbols - the tulip.

"The crystal design is in such stark contrast to the gray, concealed building we now have as our convention facility," said OCC president Pat Kelly.

The new congress centre will be 300 ft. long and will have an uninterrupted view of the Parliament Buildings.

The colour palette of the interior will reflect the colours of the Ottawa-Gatineau landscape.

[waterloowarrior]

[c_speed3108]

Congress Centre unveils $160M redesign
Crystal 'bubble' to dominate new look centre
Jake Rupert , The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, October 02, 2008

OTTAWA - The face of a part downtown Ottawa is about to change dramatically after Congress Centre officials released the final design for a redeveloped facility Thursday.

The new design features a 100-metre long, several-storeys tall crystal bubble running from the MacKenzie Bridge to the Westin Hotel on the east side of the Rideau Canal with new landscaping leading to the historic water way in front of the building.

The bubble is supposed to represent a tulip flower lying on its side, and was designed by Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects, who are working with PCL Constructors on the new $160-million facility.

"The crystal design is in stark contrast to the gray, concealed building we now have as our convention facility," Congress Centre president Patrick Kelly said. "We will, in effect, finally balance the beauty of the west side of the canal with a facility and landscaping deserving of the location."

The design will allow visitors to the new centre to see the Parliament Buildings, the canal, the National Art Gallery and other downtown sites from inside the bubble.

The redevelopment project comes after years of false starts aimed at improving the current facility, which is too small to host major events and was seen as a drag on the city's tourism industry.

The new building will be three times the size of the old one and is expected to be open in the spring of 2011. Demolition of the old building will start at the end of this month and is expected to take six months.


© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

I don't hate the design, although I am not sure I like it there.

[harls]

Looks interesting, but I don't see the tulip design in those pics.. maybe if I squint harder..