New Restaurant and Retail Building: 907 Fort William Road
by Scott A. Sumner
Local construction company M Builds completed a new restaurant and retail building at 907 Fort William Road across from the Intercity Shopping Centre. I asked Graham Belluz, Project Manager at M Builds some questions about the project.
This building will house a new restaurant as well as retail clients on a high profile street in Thunder Bay?
Tell me about the building size, type of construction and finishes that were used?
M Builds was chosen as the general contractor to complete Phase 2 of this development, which is the construction of a 682 m2 building named “B2” consisting of shallow concrete foundations (completed in phase 1), structural steel framing, heavy gauge steel studs walls, and a 4 ply built up asphalt roof system. The use of structural steel for the building structure has allowed specialized canopies and multiple types of finishes to be applied to the exterior of the building, which is of course the latest architectural craze. This building exterior is finished with multiple unique materials such as: EIFS (Exterior Insulation Finish System commonly known as stucco), masonry brick and block, precast concrete sills, aluminum composite panels, fiber cement siding, corrugated metal cladding , aluminum store front and glazing. All exterior works and site improvements were completed as part of this project.
What were the stages of construction of this facility? I understand the foundation was completed first and after a period of time the building erected.
How did the build process go? How did the sub trades perform for you?
Overall how has the project gone and are you almost complete? When will the tenants be in place and operational?
The project proceeded in awesome fashion. The construction followed typical new build construction schedule sequencing. M Builds and our subcontractors completed all procurement activities and shop drawings as early in the process as possible to avoid any supply chain issues for materials for this project. The concrete foundation was a completed by M Builds in an earlier phase, and we were able to get a jump start early in the construction season to start the structural steel frame. Overall, this project has progressed well and we enjoyed working with Anthony and Mark from LLA architecture+ and the building Owner, Sovereign Design & Management Services, Charles and Joe. Our knowledge of the site, phase one, and the intricacies of the drawings allowed us to identify a few issues early in the project, and iron out solutions long before they became a problem. One example of this is the management of traffic on the site. As the site is very tight, and there are already other tenants on the property, we had to work out a traffic management plan and phasing plan to ensure everyone had access to the site. This involved moving the site fence on several occasions, and tightly scheduling several site activities so that the traffic was affected for the least amount of time. Overall, our Site Superintendent Claudio and all of our subtrades have provided a very high-quality product that the Owner and Consultants are very happy with. The base building is now complete with both tenants open for business.
Were you affected by any issues such as supply chain of materials- although we are after COVID now, approvals or any services needed for the project?
The Covid 19 supply chain issues, which have resulted in unprecedented increases in the cost of new materials have been the largest impediment to our industry in past years. We did not have any issues with the delivery times on this project due to the general great management of the project. Early in the project, LLA Architects, Sovereign Design Management and M Builds worked really well together to get ant product issues ironed out, materials on order and shop-drawings issued and approved so that materials were available when we needed them. The tenants were able to start the interior fit ups right on schedule and have them complete and open for business before the busy holiday season. M Builds and our subcontractors were able to ensure that the manpower on site was available when needed, and all work was coordinated so that field measurements were taken early in the process and firm orders placed with suppliers, which really assisted the process.
What is your feeling on how the construction market was in 2024 for Thunder Bay and area? What do you expect for year 2025 for construction activity?
The current construction market in NWO has been keeping M Builds and our valued sub-contractors in the area very busy. There are several projects large and small that have been keeping MBuilds busy this last year, including Magnus Theatre, Thunder Bay Conservatory, Fort Francies Natatorium Renovation, Geraldton Hydro One Office and many more projects throughout NW Ontario. We are looking forward to another great construction season this year and we are seeing a ton of new construction work being sent out for bidding. We look forward to working on Phase 3 of this development within the very near future.
