Canadian Building Trades Monument, Major's Hill Park

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Canadian Building Trades Monument, Major's Hill Park

The NCC is planning another monument, the Canadian Building Trades Monument, in Major's Hill Park:
http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/sites/defau...-p48e-cbtm.pdf

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New monument honouring building trades coming to Major's Hill Park

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 31, 2015, Last Updated: April 3, 2015 5:14 PM EDT

It’s the new Ottawa monument no one’s talking about — mostly because hardly anyone knows about it. But barring misadventure, the Canadian Building Trades Monument should be unveiled in Major’s Hill Park by 2017.

As its name implies, the monument will highlight the significance and impact of the construction industry in Canada. It will also serve as a focus to remember construction workers killed or injured on the job.

The monument was proposed more than five years ago by the Canadian Building and Construction Trades Department, a 500,000-member umbrella organization for unions within the construction industry.

But its progress has been slowed by illness, process changes and bureaucratic reorganizations, said Robert Blakely, the organization’s director of Canadian Affairs. “We’ve basically been pushed back a year,” he said.

The National Capital Commission‘s board of directors approved a 100-square-metre site for the monument in the northwest part of Major’s Hill Park last June. “But we still have one clause left to negotiate to sign off the agreement,” Blakely said this week. “When we’ve done that, we’ll really have the site and will be moving forward.”

The monument has attracted virtually no press coverage. But Blakely, perhaps thinking of the much larger and highly controversial Memorial to the Victims of Communism, isn’t perturbed by the project’s low profile. “Sometimes being under the radar is not a bad place to be,” he observed.

The monument’s estimated cost is $1.2 million, though that might edge up to $1.5 million, Blakely said. But taxpayers can relax: members of the Canadian Building and Construction Trades Department are footing 95 per cent of the bill. (By contrast, the federal government is paying $3 million of the estimated $5.5-million cost of the victims of communism memorial.)

Recognition of the key role played by the building trades in Canada is overdue, Blakely said. “If you look around Ottawa, there’s a monument to the firefighters, there’s a monument to the Famous Five and there’s a monument to a number of other people. But the people who actually built every darn thing there is, there’s no monument to.

“Most people really don’t fathom that the entire stock of buildings — from the two-hole outhouse to the biggest projects on earth — are built by our members,” he said. “We’re hoping to get people to understand, hey, we really do some pretty fantastic stuff.”

Blakely is pleased by the location in Major’s Hill Park, selected after his organization was shown about a dozen potential sites. Some were beautiful, he said, but weren’t easy to get to. Given that one key objective was to “raise the profile of the people who built the country,” Blakely said, the Major’s Hill Park site was best.

The site is among about 80 listed in the NCC’s inventory of potential commemorative sites in the National Capital Region and is categorized as an “order two” site. It’s large enough to accommodate a medium-scale monument, the NCC says.

It also provides enough space for ceremonies, notably the annual National Day of Mourning on April 28, which commemorates workers killed or injured in the workplace.

Blakely said his organization plans to launch a national design competition in the coming weeks and announce a winner by October. Construction would begin in 2016 with dedication of the monument in 2017.

A jury will recommend the winning design. Blakely doesn’t expect it to be terribly abstract. “Sometimes you see public art and say, ‘Gee, exactly what is that?’ We may be more literal.”

dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...jors-hill-park

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Design competition kicks off for new building trades monument

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: May 5, 2015, Last Updated: May 5, 2015 6:07 PM EDT

A national design competition is underway for a new Ottawa monument that will honour the contribution of Canada’s building trades.

The monument, to be built on a 100-square-metre site in Major’s Hill Park, is sponsored by Canada’s Building Trades Unions, a national association that represents more than half a million Canadian workers in the building, construction, fabrication and maintenance industries.

The monument will highlight the significance and impact of the construction industry in Canada. It will also serve as a focal point to remember construction workers killed or injured on the job.

The design competition, open to all Canadian citizens and permanent residents, has two phases. The first, which began Tuesday, gives teams until June 18 to submit their credentials and examples of their work.

A jury of artists, design professionals and construction trades representatives will select a minimum of three finalists by late June, who will be commissioned to create a detailed project plan and design that is to be presented to the jury on Oct. 1, 2015. The winning team will be notified later that month.

The final design will be made public about a year from now, with an unveiling ceremony of the completed monument scheduled for May 2017, in time for Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations.

“This landmark work of art will offer a unique and inspiring place for workers, visitors and residents alike . . . to gather and reflect,” says the monument’s request-for-qualifications document.

The minimum budget for the project — including design, fabrication, construction and installation — will be $660,000 plus taxes. The CBTU has raised almost all of the money from its members.

The site in Major’s Hill Park is owned by the National Capital Commission and is on the NCC’s inventory of potential commemorative sites. It’s large enough to accommodate a medium-scale monument, the NCC says.

It also provides enough space for ceremonies, notably the annual National Day of Mourning on April 28, which commemorates workers killed or injured in the workplace.

dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...rades-monument

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Finalists selected for design of new Ottawa monument to Canada's building trades

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: September 7, 2015 | Last Updated: September 7, 2015 5:32 PM EDT

A jury has selected five finalists in a national competition to design a new monument to Canada’s building trades in Major’s Hill Park.

The monument’s sponsor, Canada’s Building Trades Unions – the national voice for more than 500,000 Canadian construction workers – made the announcement on its website on Labour Day.

The jury of experts selected the five finalists after reviewing submissions from 40 design teams who responded to an open invitation to submit qualifications for the $660,000 project.

The finalist teams will now prepare detailed proposals and maquettes that will be presented at a public open house in Ottawa on Dec. 10.

The winning design will be announced in early 2016 with an unveiling ceremony tentatively planned for May 2017 as part of Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations.

The monument will be installed on a 100-square-metre site, owned by the National Capital Commission, in the upper plaza of Major’s Hill Park.

It will recognize the significance and impact of construction in Canada and honour the role the trades have played in the country’s development as well as the contribution and losses of those who work in the building trades.

The five finalist teams, each of which includes at least one experienced artist and architect or landscape architect, are drawn from across the country. They include:

• Metz & Chew of Vancouver
• Studio West Ltd. and Exp Services Inc. of Calgary
• Noel Harding and DTAH of Toronto
• S/N/L Group (Stacey Spiegel, Nippaysage and Lightemotion) from Montreal and Toronto
• And John Greer and Brian MacKay-Lyons of Halifax

“We can’t wait to see what they come up with,” said Bob Blakely, the CBTU’s Canadian operating officer.

dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...uilding-trades

[kwoldtimer]

I wonder if it could become a twofer, with a portion dedicated to the victims of Communism who fled oppression to become members of building trades in Canada?

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Canadian Building Trades Monument Winning Design Team Announced

Jan 26, 2016
Canada’s Building Trades Unions, Ottawa, ON

Canada’s Building Trades Unions is pleased to announce the design team for the Canadian Building Trades Monument, to be built in Major’s Hill Park, in Canada’s Capital. A jury of experts selected the successful design team from 40 submissions received in response to a national Request for Qualifications. Four design teams were shortlisted and invited to develop proposals in June 2015.

The successful design team, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, consists of sculptor John Greer and architect Brian MacKay-Lyons www.artistjohngreer.com + www.mlsarchitects.ca

John Greer has exhibited internationally and taught sculpture at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design for 26 years. Greer was the recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2009. Brian MacKay-Lyons, co-founder of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, has practiced architecture for more than 30 years, and was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal in 2015. MacKay-Lyons was recently named the recipient of one of 9 international fellowships awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects. The Canadian Building Trades Monument will mark their first collaboration.

The Canadian Building Trades Monument will be located across from Parliament in Major’s Hill Park, on a prominent site overlooking the Ottawa River. The site will be a place to celebrate the great achievements of this nation’s many skilled building tradesmen and women - stonemasons, mechanical trades, carpenters, ironworkers, construction labourers, and others.

“This special monument will be a tribute to the men and women who work so hard to create safe and beautiful environments where we live, work and play,” said the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage. “National memorials are important because they reflect the rich and diverse history and accomplishments of Canada’s people. These tributes create a sense of belonging and pride and unite us as Canadians.”

The Government of Canada, through the Department of Canadian Heritage and the National Capital Commission, is providing the site and facilitating the development of the new monument.

The monument, which is slated for installation in 2017, will be built in Canada with Cambrian black granite, quarried in Quebec. Its most prominent feature will be a pair of oversized plumb bobs, which are amongst the oldest building tools known to humankind. It will also feature 14 tools, to be chosen by the 14 different trade unions sponsoring the monument, each of which will choose the tool that is iconic for their membership.

In describing their proposal, the design team said:

“Building is the most optimistic of human acts. This monument celebrates and honours the Canadian building tradesmen and women who construct the world around us. As you enter this place, you are invited to reflect on their accomplishments and on your role as a participant.”

The Canadian Building Trades Monument will be an inspiring place for workers and their families to gather and reflect, as well as commemorating the tragic losses workers have endured in carrying out their work.

Robert Blakely, Canadian Operating Officer of Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU), explains, “CBTU is proud to offer this monument as a gift to all Canadians. Choosing one team from so many excellent submissions was difficult, but we believed deeply in the winning team’s skill as craftsmen, the sculpture’s exceptional quality and its layers of meaning, which will be symbolic of the foundational nature of our work, our sacrifices, and our strengths as builders. It will be built to last.”

The Canadian Building Trades Monument will be completed by 2017 in Major’s Hill Park in Ottawa, a location steeped in Canada’s built history with striking views of Parliament, the Rideau Canal and Canada’s Capital Region. The competition to design, fabricate, and install the monument, which has a budget of $660,000, was open to Canadian artists and designers.

The 5-member jury for this public art competition consisted of Gérald Lajeunesse (landscape architect); John McEwen (artist); Marie-Jeanne Musiol (artist); David Frank (labour historian) and Robert Blakely (union representative). The public viewing of the finalist proposals in December 2015 (at Ottawa’s Bytown Museum and online) generated comments that informed the jury’s deliberations.

The Canadian Building Trades Monument is being built by CBTU in partnership with their fair employers, and in collaboration with the Department of Canadian Heritage and the National Capital Commission.

For more information about the project, visit: www.canadianbuildingtradesmonument.ca


http://buildingtrades.ca/news/2016/0...team-announced