General Updates and News

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by someone123

Looks okay but those have got to be some of the least flattering renderings I've seen in a while. Why render bleak winter scenes that look like people will need to trudge through a parking lot to get to the building?

At one point there was a plan for some park space on part of this lot. I think it was more or less where the walkway is now, behind the library, with one or two building lots next to it. Hopefully Dal won't take decades to develop the rest of this land, but I am worried that's what going to happen since it's pretty huge in relation to the rest of the Sexton campus. They seem to get a small-ish building every 15 years or so.

I agree. It's hilarious they created this cold, lonely, bereft wintery scene for their rendering. I mean, come on!

[portapetey]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

Work on Scotia Square starting.

Is that Stewie's shadow? Are you Stewie?

[bluenoser]

Cool little video on the first bridge section replacement:

https://youtu.be/BvsIQ0RIUsc

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by bluenoser

Cool little video on the first bridge section replacement:

https://youtu.be/BvsIQ0RIUsc

ok THAT is @#$%ing awesome.

Going to have to show it to my 3 y/o son tonight. He will love it. He was so fascinated when I took and showed him the section of bridge missing, that even a week later he was bringing it up and explaining to me how he thought that they had done it. He even started building cranes out of lego as part of it!

[counterfactual]

Roger Taylor had an interesting piece on recent exodus of top staff at Halifax city government:

TAYLOR: Staff exodus should be on HRM's plate, not donairs

http://thechronicleherald.ca/busines...te-not-donairs

Something is going on at Halifax city hall, and I’m not certain it is all good.

It seems like key department managers have been leaving the city on a regular basis, and yet councillors seem to be more concerned about naming the donair as Halifax’s official food.

[...]

More recently, Eddie Robar, the high-profile director of Halifax Transit, revealed he will be vacating his job in the new year to take over as branch manager of Edmonton’s transit system. Robar’s last official day on the job in Halifax is Jan. 3.

Darrin Natolino, the beleaguered superintendent of winter works, left the city recently for a job in the private sector. He has since been replaced by senior works supervisor Trevor Harvie, who will be acting superintendent of winter operations, training and compliance this season.

Philip Herritt, manager of technical services for Halifax Transit, announced his plan to resign. His last day with the city is Nov. 20.

Alain Tremblay, formerly Halifax’s manager of information, communications and technology operations, left the city earlier this month. Corinne MacCormack has been named acting manager until the position is filled permanently.

Tanya Davis, Halifax’s former senior traffic operations engineer, left the municipality in September.

Anyone have any info or ideas about what is going on here?

Why the mass exodus?

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

Roger Taylor had an interesting piece on recent exodus of top staff at Halifax city government:

TAYLOR: Staff exodus should be on HRM's plate, not donairs

http://thechronicleherald.ca/busines...te-not-donairs



Anyone have any info or ideas about what is going on here?

Why the mass exodus?

http://www.hrmpensionplan.ca/files/Minutes_150715.pdf page 9 item 5.1.1
" Another question asked at the meeting was what would be the cost to get to 85% solvency. According to information from Mr. Ireland, this would cost approximately $500 million upfront. "

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by Colin May

http://www.hrmpensionplan.ca/files/Minutes_150715.pdf page 9 item 5.1.1
" Another question asked at the meeting was what would be the cost to get to 85% solvency. According to information from Mr. Ireland, this would cost approximately $500 million upfront. "

People are getting out while pensions are still good?

[Keith P.]

Yes, some of the stated reasons make little sense.

HRM pays better than the province does for comparable positions, though less than the Feds, which are the gold standard. The HRM pension plan, though in awful shape from an actuarial point of view, offers better terms than either the provincial or federal plans - probably the reason why it is in such bad shape.

I suspect that for senior staff, dealing with Council meetings and Council members - usually not the sharpest knives in the drawer - turns into a significant drawback. Unlike the Feds or even provincially, the elected members are much closer to the operation and so they have frequent interaction with Council members, usually because they are unhappy about something. That would drive anyone away. Then there is the Richard Butts factor, which I know nothing about. Some say he is hated, but that may be because he is trying to get necessary changes made and the long-timers do not like it, I just don't know. The Deputy CAO who is leaving just got a big raise and the supplemental pension increase is on the horizon, so I doubt it is money that is making him leave. He has been there a while and may not like the style of his boss, but that is just speculation.

It has been stated that they are leaving for the better-paying private sector, but only some skill sets transfer there. In many cases they are transferring to other govt jobs not in HRM.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

People are getting out while pensions are still good?

The HRM pension plan is better than any other public sector pension in Canada and more expensive for taxpayers and employees.
Mayor Savage, Richard Butts, councillors and the unions have been silent about recent issues concerning the pension plan.

[Dmajackson]

SIX FIFTY NORTH looks quite a bit better then it's neighbours


Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

SIX FIFTY NORTH looks quite a bit better then it's neighbours

Where is this? It looks like Mount Royale?

[Ziobrop]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Where is this? It looks like Mount Royale?

yah, its on washmill lake drive, in the the triangle bounded by washmill, dunbrack and main.

it is the best looking building up there.

[RoshanMcG]

Is that building going to have first floor retail? I don't think that entire area has any kind of retail like small shops, cafés, or anything.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Note: Around the same time I posted this, a separate thread appeared at: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...36#post7222536

I have copied and pasted this post to that thread.



Heard this on the radio this morning:

Nova Scotia condos hurt by widespread workmanship woes: leaked report

Article at the link:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...lems-1.3302025

Anecdotally, my MIL was renting a condo in a newish building (around 4 years old at the time) a few years back and I heard through the condo owners that many units had water leak issues among other things and several of them had to spend in the vicinity of 10 grand to fix the issues. I would be wild, I have to say, to have just made the biggest purchase of my life and then have to spend more money due to the fact that the building wasn't built correctly! And, realistically, I don't know how a prospective condo owner would have any way of knowing in advance if they were going to face this problem or not.

This would really make me reconsider the purchase of a condo. Hopefully it will not affect sales of the new buildings going up in Halifax.

It makes me wonder how this could have gone on for so many years with no accountability process for builders and developers.

So is this just a Nova Scotia thing, or is it happening elsewhere as well?

[Ziobrop]

Originally Posted by RoshanMcG

Is that building going to have first floor retail? I don't think that entire area has any kind of retail like small shops, cafés, or anything.

the building on the corner of main/dunbrack has a convenience store but that's it.

[Jonovision]

Scotia Square Addition.

[Jonovision]

Westwood posted this full rendering on their facebook today.

[bluenoser]

Still not a fan. My main issue is that it takes away a number of different buildings (which I think were nice but regardless) and replaces them with one big block. I don't know if there is a possible alternative, but the main section of SGR is not all that big - having a bunch of different buildings makes it more interesting and is part of its character. IMO this will make it feel more generic.

Also, the street level presence along SGR looks like an afterthought / is overshadowed by the residential portion. I love that buildings like 5504 Spring Garden, The Roy and Espace for example have (at least the possibility of) two stories of retail along their most important street fronts.

[Drybrain]

It's fine, but it's a bit monolithic and antiseptic whereas the current block is fine-grained, a bit messy, sidewalk-oriented, and undeniably urban in its scale.

Then again, I have a hard time imagining that anything, regardless of its merits, could win me over here, given what Chedrawe is doing to the block as it is.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

It's fine, but it's a bit monolithic and antiseptic whereas the current block is fine-grained, a bit messy, sidewalk-oriented, and undeniably urban in its scale.

Then again, I have a hard time imagining that anything, regardless of its merits, could win me over here, given what Chedrawe is doing to the block as it is.

Send him your comments/suggestions. He is very approachable and I have known him for over 20 years.