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CISC B.C.WINNER
Infrastructure projects like SkyTrain's new Millennium line dominate steel fabrication demand in B.C. Initiated in 1998, the 20 kilometre Millennium line will boast a total of 12 stations between New Westminster to Lougheed Mall in Burnaby and the Broadway/Glen Drive area in East Vancouver.
The prevailing idea behind the new line was to have each Millennium station be uniquely designed, reflecting the surrounding community's distinct character. The result has earned the Sapperton Station, one of the two new operating stations, special recognition for its innovative use of steel.
Winner of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction 2001 B.C. architectural steel design award, Sapperton is located at the foot of Keary Street in New Westminster, immediately east of Brunette Avenue between the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and CN railway lines.
The two level station is completely made of lightweight steel materials elevated four stories above grade with a steel pedestrian bridge connecting to the entry plaza on the opposite side of Brunette.
Solid Rock Steel Fabricating Co. Ltd. (SRS) fabricated and erected the structural steel for the $7.9 million project. Having worked on several stations for the existing SkyTrain system, SRS understands the complexity involved with light rapid transit construction. Their expertise earned them contracts for five other stations: Braid, Production, Sperling, Rupert and Renfrew. Sapperton was their largest contract out of the six stations.
"The stations are complex projects with high quality control and inspection," says SRS manager Peter Steunenberg, noting it was a 10 month long project for them. "Not every fabricator wants to take the risks but we were willing to take the risk particularly at Sapperton."
Although construction of the station posed many challenges, Steunenberg says it was one of the highlight projects...