Metropole at Island Park WestThe Metropole, a high-quality luxury condominium, is the tallest residential building in Ottawa - its value pegged at in excess of $40 million. The Metropole is 35 stories tall and located on Lanark Avenue in the heart of Ottawa's Westboro neighbourhood a landmark in Ottawa. Metropole offers its upper level residents a spectacular view of the Ottawa River and surrounding landscape. Each suite will be styled to the individual buyer's requirements. The luxury of this high-rise condominium is the crown jewel of Minto's Island Park West.

Precast Cladding PanelsUse granite cladding or precast concrete? That was the question faced by Minto Island Park Developments. Architectural precast panels won for several reasons; foremost among which were the critical savings possible in both time and money.

Mockups Aid FabricationThe precast ground floor panels are 5" thick and have cast-in granite veneer accents at the base. The remaining exterior precast concrete panels have a medium warm tone sandblast finish. The designers liked the warm tone finish because it helped establish a strong residential image for the Metropole that fitted into the upscale oriented neighborhood.

To achieve a flawless blend of colors between the granite at the base of the tower and the precast and curtain walls above, the architect and precaster worked together to develop cladding panels with the proper warm coloration. A medium sandblast texture simulated a fine granite finish. The precaster first produced one-foot square samples to test the color and then proceeded to larger samples at full size. Once those were approved, the precaster created a full-size mockup of the panels, as recommended by CPCI/PCI's Architectural Precast Concrete manual.

A total of 800 pieces covering 5,800 m2 (62,000 sq. ft) of precast were manufactured and erected, said Vito Cannone, president of Global Precast, Maple, Ontario, Metropole's precast supplier.

Construction
During construction, Aecon bought the assets of Westeinde Construction Ltd., including its staff and some ongoing projects, and formed Westeinde Construction Inc. a union of Westeinde Construction Ltd. and Aecon Group Inc. The merger benefits from Westende's extensive design-build experience.

Thanks to the harsh winters, the team Minto and Aecon-Westeinde faced significant delays that were overcome by reducing the typical floor pour cycle from five days to three days. The precast was erected in 3 mobilizations over a 5 month period that followed closely behind the cast-in-place concrete frame. This allowed the building to be quickly enclosed to allow the finishing trades to efficiently carry out their work without being exposure to the weather.

Construction began September 2002 reached substantial completion in July 2004

Owner: Minto Developments
Architect: Page+Steel Architects Planners
Contruction Manager: Aecon-Westeinde Alliance
Precaster: Global Precast - www.GlobalPrecast.com