Victoria Alarcon reports on construction progress as workers try to meet July deadline.
On a wintry day, when the temperature has dipped below -15 and the wind chills the bones, construction workers in orange and yellow vests are working away to produce the biggest stadium that York has ever seen: the Pan Am Athletic Stadium.
“Do you see any other stadiums of this size at York?” says Nancy Boake, project coordinator at the York University Development Corporation. “There’s nothing else this big.”
Covering 59,115 square feet, the stadium will feature a 400-metre track and a fi eld for sports such as long jump, pole vault, and hammer throw, while seating 12,500 spectators.
The Pan Am Athletic Stadium at York is just one of the seven venues in Toronto that will be used in the 2015 Pan Am Games, which will invite athletes from both North and South America, and the Caribbean to compete in sports from cycling to karate.
Today, even while the wind has picked up and conditions are numbingly cold, several construction workers are looking at a torn up tarp that was put in place to protect them from the weather. However, the Canadian winter seemingly always manages to win.
“They missed two days of work this week because it was just too darn cold,” Boake says, explaining that the construction site was shut down on Jan. 7 and Jan. 8.
When temperature drops below a certain number of degrees, workers cannot use the paste needed to bind construction blocks together, as it won’t set properly. Everything becomes harder with weather, says Boake. Machines don’t work as well, people slow down, and delays are unavoidable.
“It’s very challenging to work in construction in Canada,” says Boake. Since the ice storm that hit back in December, weather conditions have become harder to deal with as wind chills, winter storm warnings, and flash freezes stay for longer durations.
Though the recent cold weather has been unprecedented, with some of the country’s lowest temperatures in years, the stadium is still expected to be completed by July 31. With at least 50 per cent already completed, workers are now finishing the playing surface, seat installments, site lighting, scoreboard, and landscaping.
Christopher Edey, commercial land use development director at YUDC, explains each floor will have something different to look forward to. “The ground floor is predominantly athlete support spaces (locker rooms), a therapy clinic, plus the lobby and ticket sales office,” says Edey.
The second floor will have coaches’ offices, while the third floor will include seating, washrooms, and concessions. The fourth floor will be where most of the media work takes place, with broadcasters and timing/scoring booths being set up here, along with coaches’ boxes and a lounge.
As for what comes afer the stadium is completed, test events will be held between the summer of 2014 to spring of 2015 to ensure everything is set for the Pan Am Games.
However, the facility will be free for students and the community to enjoy before the athletes arrive for the games.
Edey says, “There is a great deal of planning underway for the games period that Toronto 2015 is leading, with the active involvement of York University, other venue owners, and many more stakeholders across the Greater Toronto Area.”
Victoria Alarcon
Assistant News Editor
