A downtown construction project is proceeding just in the way it's been planned.
Residents living around the future Northbank building at 125 Columbia St. questioned why construction activity seems to have halted at the site.
"We have completed our bulk excavation," said Peter Newall, president of Ballenas Project Management. "You take out the bulk of the material you need to take out."
According to Ballenas, about 6,000 metres of material has been removed from the site that's located near Elliott and Columbia streets. Heavy-duty machinery that's no longer needed for excavation has also been removed from the site.
"We finished the excavation and the shoring," Newall said. "We are done those stages."
Neighbours have reported seeing a number of SkyTrain officials at the site in recent weeks.
"We are finalizing some structural details with TransLink," Ballenas explained. "Once we finalize what those details are, we will get on with that next stage which will be to get on with piling."
Newall noted that TransLink has a right of way that is over the Northgate property.
"We have been dealing with TransLink for quite a while," he said. "We show them our structural plans."
TransLink has its own structural experts who then review and respond to Ballenas's plans.
Newall said most of the work has been finalized. He anticipates that construction activity will get underway on the site in about a month.
"Nothing unexpected at all," he said of work now taking place at the site. "We are proceeding as I had expected."
A TransLink spokesperson could not be reached before The Record's deadline.
Some residents had wondered whether high water on the Fraser River may be impacting the project.
"It has no bearing at all. We are way up," Newall said. "There is groundwater running through the site. We have some sumps in place, some pumps. It is not anything unusual."
In July 2011, city council voted four-to-three in support of a rezoning that would allow Ballenas Project Management to build a 21-storey building on Columbia Street. The building will have just over 100 apartment units, eight townhouse units and 740 square feet of commercial space.
Many residents attending the public hearing spoke against the project. Residents living in the tower next door voiced concerns about traffic and safety on Elliot and Clarkson streets, access to the building, parking problems, loss of views for neighbouring buildings, potential damage to a neighbouring building during the construction process and suggested the 21-storey building doesn't fit into the neighbourhood and will clash with other buildings in the area.
Northbank is scheduled to open in the autumn of 2013.
