Union Station Revitalization
December 5, 2011
Russian delegates impressed with revitalization
City staff recently took a delegation of approximately 50 engineers and construction professionals from Russia on a site tour of the Union Station revitalization.
Led by Rick Tolkunow, the project's principal engineer, the tour was an opportunity to raise awareness of the revitalization among international audiences and promote knowledge transfer between Canada and Russia.
Delegates were interested in learning about construction techniques and technologies being used in the "dig down," one of the initial and most significant stages of construction. The dig down involves excavating four metres below the existing floor level to create space for a new lower-level retail concourse and two new transit concourses. This highly sophisticated, labour-intensive process will take several years as hundreds of concrete columns holding up the station are meticulously replaced or reinforced, one column at a time.
"We were pleased to be able to showcase the work we are doing at Union Station and invited the delegation to come back in a few years to see the completed project," says Mr. Tolkunow.
The site tour continued into the PATH system, which is also being expanded as part of the revitalization. Delegates then headed to City Hall where they heard from other presenters about intergovernmental relations and purchasing and materials management.
The delegation was in town for the Canadian-Russian Construction Forum and annual Construct Canada show, both of which draw international thought-leaders and decision-makers from the construction, engineering, design, facilities management and government industries.
