Getting Ready for Construction

The Well: On Friday, April 15, The Well closed. It will re-open on May 2 at Bell Street United Church, its new temporary (but smaller) location. During the intervening two weeks, The Well staff and volunteers will sort everything they own into four categories: what will be moved to Bell Street United, what will be stored in rented storage for use when The Well returns, what will be given to Got Junk, and what will be disposed of as part of the demolition. Only the stove and stainless steel frig will remain stored at St John's, in the storage room of the north east corner.

Packing up St John's: St John's has almost completed its own sorting and packing process for the basement. Our kitchen dishes will be packed and stored at the Calders' home. Other items will be stored in the liturgical storage room and the large storage room next to it, in the north east corner. These include the piano, stage supports, and custodial supplies.

Organ: Building permit documents are now being reviewed by the City, and we expect to have approval to start construction on May 2. On May 2, under Gordon's supervision, the organ will be completely wrapped in a protective covering to protect the pipes and wind chests from dust. For the first couple of months of construction we will use the piano and other instruments in worship, until the dusty part of the work is complete and the organ can be safely uncovered.

The north garden: We would like to save as many perennials and shrubs from the north side of the church as possible. If you have space in your garden to look after for some of these plants until the fall or perhaps next spring (many hostas and ferns for example), please contact Martha Nixon. We would also appreciate offers of assistance for transplanting.

Excavating the crypt:: In preparation for the excavation of the crypt, a six foot opening will be created in the lower nave wall on the north side of the church. A ramp will be constructed to allow a bob cat to enter the crypt to remove the earth. The excavated earth will be removed from outside the church by truck. The rotten beams under the Nave floor will be reinforced and a set of columns down the middle will replace the two sets of side columns. The part of the crypt to be used by The Well will be finished. The remainder of the crypt will be for St John's use; it will have a concrete floor but no other finishing. There will be consultation later this year to determine the use of this new space and then it will be finished when funding is available.

Demolition: The first phase of the project in the existing space will be demolition. Once the space is cleared, walls removed and ceiling exposed, it will be possible for individual trades to provide a firm price for their work because they will be able to clearly see what needs to be done and will not have to worry about unanticipated problems.

Design of and construction timetable for ground floor washrooms: The new, enlarged ground floor washrooms will occupy the nursery area, and the nursery will be moved to the other side of the washrooms. Because the washrooms take more space, you will notice that a small section has been taken from the west end of the Burke Room to provide a nursery of adequate size.

Since washrooms must always available, the ground floor washrooms will not be built until the new washrooms for The Well are completed. Therefore, the ground floor washroom construction will start in August, after the Chamber Music Festival and after the major basement construction is completed. The Burke Room and Nursery will be available for use until this time.

New Kitchen Design: The new kitchen has a larger serving window allowing two lines of clients to be served at once. The kitchen is divided into three major areas: the food serving area, the food preparation area, and the wash up area. Dirty dishes will be returned along the corridor outside the kitchen to the back of the kitchen for wash up. There are separate large sinks for food preparation and pot washing. The new large walk in fridge and freezer plus food storage are located in a room immediately adjacent to the kitchen.

Please see the ARC notice board for the design drawings for the ground floor washrooms and the new kitchen.

As we near the start of construction, the Corporation would like to thank Hans Stenman for his hundreds of hours of work as representative of St John's, ensuring that the project is within budget and that the design responds to the needs of both St John's and The Well.