WE'RE IN!!!!!

On Sunday, June 14, we had our first worship assembly in our building! We are so thankful to God for His help. So many wonderful things have happened through this whole process, so many doors have opened at just the right time... And, one of the greatest things about this whole project is that the congregation has this wonderful facility to use in God's service, and it will come out of this without any debt!

There is still work to be completed, but we were able to get our interim occupancy permit on the 12th. Yes, it was a close squeak. The last obstacle to the permit was identified late that morning. A required letter, which had been sent by one of the engineers some time back, had been caught up in the paperwork transfers that are involved when someone in an office retires. John Muller was on the phone with the permit department when the problem was identified and resolved. However, a new problem surfaced. The person who approves the permits said, "I am leaving my office in 10 minutes and won't be back until Monday morning." John dropped everything and took off like a shot to get to the office immediately. Thankfully, it is just across the bridge, about 5 or 6 blocks from the building. When he returned, he had the interim permit.

The first week saw some firsts - first worship assembly, first baptism, first wedding, first pot-luck, first wedding shower.

The picture above shows our new front entrance. The old solid doors are gone, replaced by these new wood and glass doors. It looks so much more open, light and inviting. The new entrance makes a big difference to the look of the building. * 9:08 AM 0 comments

It's Happening!

Some very significant things have happened in the last two days (Monday, May 11 and Tuesday, May 12).

Installation of the new safety floor in the kitchen was finished today. (seen in the picture at right) This means that the kitchen equipment can now be delivered and installed

Next, vinyl flooring will be installed in the bathroom, hallway and workroom in the office and library areas. Preparation work on these floors was started this afternoon.


Upstairs, in the classroom area, the operable wall was installed. This is a movable wall that allows two adjacent classrooms to be opened up to become a larger assembly area. The four panels of the wall follow a track so that they can either be lined up together to make a wall, or turned sideways and "stacked" to open the rooms.

The picture at left shows two of the panels installed. The panel at right is in the wall position, while the panel at left is in the "stacked" position.




Yesterday, the chairs for the auditorium and multi-purpose room were delivered. Several members of the congregation showed up to help unload them from the trailer and bring them into the building.

At right, you can see many of the 51 stacks of chairs that were unloaded. Much of the work in the auditorium is now complete. The remaining work is mainly the installation of the bases along the wall, clean-up and finishing the sound booth.

Around the building, work is ongoing on installation of the plumbing and HVAC systems, door hardware, painting, refinishing of the multi-purpose room floor, etc. * 9:09 PM 0 comments

Gaining Momentum

This has been a great week! There has been a lot of work done, with some very visible results. For those who may not have really seen the building from the outside, the picture at right was taken from the north-east corner of the property. The part of the building to the right of the steeple is the main auditorium. The roof line extends beyond the steeple over the main floor multi-purpose room and the second floor classroom area. You can just barely see the flat roof just to the left of the steeple. This is the main, north entrance. If you enter through these doors, the coatroom would be immediately to your left, followed by the bathrooms, kitchen and youth room along that side of the building. This interior shot (at left) shows the main lobby area (or as the architect calls it, the "meeting space.") The multi-purpose room is to the right. The counter to the left is the pass-through for the kitchen. Note that the holes and cuts in the floor have been filled. The wheel-chair lift (dark space on the near right) is now fully functional. It runs between the main floor (pictured), the office and classroom levels. The ramp allows allows easy access between the office level and the main floor. parking lot stairs (by the light space at the very back and in the picture below).

The red tape was put on to hold the tiles and safety treads in place overnight until the grouting could be applied the next morning.

Among the other work going on this past week was installation of toilets in the bathrooms, holes cut for sinks, air conditioners put up on the roof, finishing the installation of the racks in the coat room, preparation of the floor at the front of the auditorium and the platform, installation of the t-bar for the kitchen ceiling, installation of the counter for the coffee maker, painting of doors and frames.


* 3:06 PM 0 comments

New Sign

Few events in building projects seem as momentous as putting up a new sign. Our new sign (at left) went up on Monday, April 6. Immediately after it was lifted and welded in place, the rusted framework of the old Journey's Bookstore sign was removed.

The electric and data connections still need to be set up. While the data will have a wireless connection to an indoor computer, the electricity will be fed through an underground line. We are planning to use the line that ran to the old sign. However, since the ground is still very frozen, the electrical connection may have to wait for a bit.

Indoors, the counters and cabinets for the kitchen island and pass-through are in place. The roofers were in today (April 7) cutting holes in the roof for the vents and ducts that need to be installed.

The wheelchair lift is now operational. Work on this has included having to have the motor rewound, a circuit board replaced and several hours of maintenance work. Basically, it has just sat there, unused, for the past few years. * 7:03 PM 0 comments

Looking Good!

At the middle of March, we aren't as far along as hoped, but progress is steady. Some areas are now reaching finishing stages. We can now begin to glimpse what it will be like when it is done. The lighting fixtures are all in, with only the track light bulbs yet to be installed in the fixtures. In the picture at right, you can see the track lights and the pot lots (which are on).









To the left, you can see the overall effect of the front, with the wood wall, trim and lights. There is still an iron railing (with wooden top) to be installed behind the baptistry.









The picture to the right shows a close-up of the stepped front wall with the trim. The trim still needs to be stained to match the wood panels.











At the left, the ceramic tile is being laid in the coat room area.









To the right, the coat rack has been installed.














To the right, the post for the sign has been installed. In the near future, the new sign will be attached to the post and the old one (behind) removed. * 2:57 PM 0 comments

Time Flies!

Sometimes, it seems that since we started this, time has just crawled. The reality is that we received our building permit on October 30! The perception is not the reality. Time and work have been flying.

This past week has seen some really exciting developments. For one, the railing has been put on the ramp.

The mudding, taping and sanding on the main floor are complete. Most of the walls have now been primed and some walls have received a finish coat. Here's a shot of the main lobby. Immediately to the left is the entrance to the men's room. Next is the opening and doors for the kitchen. Last, on the left, is the youth room. At the far end is the exit to the parking lot and the janitor's closet. (dark opening) The railing on the ramp can also be seen near the far end.

The taping and mudding is well underway in the upstairs area. This is where the education program will be located. Including the balcony area, which is enclosed, there are 9 classrooms and an office upstairs. There will be an operable wall between two of the rooms which can be opened for children's assemblies. Hopefully, the sanding will start in this area early this next week. Then, painting can be started in earnest. At this point, one small classroom and the two upstairs washrooms have been painted.

One of the other exciting developments this week is that the installation of the ceramic tiles has started. To the right, is the main entrance. The doors will be changed, hopefully in the not too distant future. The grouting has not been done yet. Tile has also been put down in the coat room (light area to the right) and the men's room. Work has also been started in the ladies room and at the parking lot entrance.

The most dramatic change this week is the paneling at the front of the auditorium. The picture on the left shows part of the front wall. At the time it was taken, panels on the right side were being installed. (The edge of the scaffold is just visible on the right side of the picture.) Some of the panels had to be taken back to the shop and recut. The places where these go are seen as white spaces to the lower right. On Friday, these were installed. (Sorry that the picture isn't better. At least it does give the idea. To get a sense of the scale involved, note the doorways on the left. These are full sized doors.)

Hopefully, in the near future, the new front exterior and interior doors will be installed. Also pending are the holes in the roof for the HVAC system, the installation of the sign, leveling the floors (and starting installation of carpeting). Of course, there is still much work to do on the HVAC and plumbing systems. * 5:23 PM 0 comments

What a Change!

Here's an example of the progress and improvement that has been happening. At left, this is a picture of the balcony taken from the front of the auditorium. This was taken earlier this year. Notice that the surface of the face of the balcony has been removed.




At right, a few weeks later, the drywall has been put on. Notice that the ceiling has also been prepared for priming and painting.













Here's how it looks today! (March 4) The wood panels have been installed. This was completed. The installers are now working on the front walls of the auditorium. * 9:16 PM 0 comments

It's Happening!

It's great to say that changes are happening - real progress is being made. The picture to the left was taken in the early afternoon on March 2. Painting of the ceiling is done. The electricians have hung the main auditorium lights. (Each light is about 30 inches across!) Later that afternoon, tracks for lights over the platform were mounted on the ceiling. This morning (Tuesday, March 3), the ceiling fans were put up, as well as the pot lights over the platform. Also, priming of the front wall was completed. The coat room and front office have been primed. The baptistry change room (through the open door on the left) has been primed and has received the first finish coat. The bathrooms, kitchen, youth room and main foyer are close to being ready for sanding (then painting).

The millwork crew has started installing the wood paneling on the front of the balcony. Then, they should begin installing paneling on the front walls of the auditorium. Later, they will be installing the racks in the coatroom, the new front doors, kitchen cabinets, baseboards, etc.

Installation of new doors is scheduled to start tomorrow. They were delivered last week. There are over 30 doors to hang, paint, then install hardware.

Perhaps the greatest recognition should go to those putting in the plumbing and HVAC systems. Literally, hundreds of feet of ducts and pipe have been put in. Much of this has been put into the crawl spaces under the auditorium, multi-purpose room and the east side of the building. Crawling around and working in these spaces is hard, dirty and cramped work. It is almost ready for the next stage, when the roofers come in to cut holes in the roof for the various pipes and wires that will connect to rooftop equipment (which also needs to be lifted up there). The roofers plan to be in almost any day now.

The arrival of warmer weather suggests that installation of our sign may not be too far in the future. All the necessary permits, both zoning and building, have been obtained. At last word, assembly of the sign was being completed.

There is still so much that needs to be done. What is exciting is that some days, there are 8-10 people working. (There have even been as many as 16-17!) A quiet day may only have 2 or 3. But, progress is progress! Each day brings us closer to completion.


* 6:51 PM 0 comments

Coming Along!

In a project like this, things never seem to happen as quickly as you might like, but things do happen.

We have made enough progress that we have applied for a partial occupancy permit for the office and library/resource area of our building. As you can see from the picture (left), it isn't completely finished. This is part of the main room that will serve as our library/resource centre. In the back, through the unfinished doorway are the doors for the offices for the minister and youth minister. The openings in the wall to the left go to the workroom.

We've added the white walls. Behind them is a hallway that leads from the entry hall to the offices.

The electrical, mechanical and structural inspections of this area are now complete. Hopefully, we should receive the permit in the not too distant future.

Some of the most striking progress has been in the main auditorium (right). The platform has been completely rebuilt. The baptistery is installed. An additional layer of insulation has been put on the walls. The vapor barrier and drywall are now up on most of the walls and ceiling. You can begin to see how the finished front will look. It's hard to get a real sense of the scale in here. The drywall you see stacked is in four by twelve foot sheets. And, the openings in the walls at the very front are full sized doorways. Below is a close-up of the front. The floor at the bottom of the picture is the platform. The window of the baptistery is the blue in the lower centre of the picture.
The main change room is to the left. There is a set of stairs that goes up from there to the baptistery level. (There is another set of stairs on the right side.) The wall in front will be a wood finish, and the back wall (the unfinished wall behind the scaffold) will be painted.

If you look carefully, you might be able to see the lines of the drywall sheets (which will give some idea of the dimensions). For example, from the floor of the baptistery level, to the top of the picture, there are three full rows plus a fourth that is partially done. That's a total of sixteen feet. Similarly, the top of the baptistery is just over four feet above the platform. The whole auditorium is about 100 feet long.

The picture to the right is from the platform looking toward the back of the auditorium. You can see the glassed balcony/mezzanine area. Present plans are for this space to be used as a classroom. On the lower level, the main entrance is just barely visible to the left of the ladder. The doorway to the right of the ladder leads to the multi-purpose room. On the far right, the studs for the cry room can be seen. One of the great assets of the auditoriums are the tall windows on each side which provide a great source of natural light.

Today (December 22), the drywall in the auditorium was being taped and mudded. This is, in itself, a huge process. Notice, to the left, near the back, there are two pallets of boxes. This is the joint and finishing compounds (mud). Also, the steel doorframes were being installed at the front of the auditorium. As well, people were working on putting up vapor barrier in other parts of the building, working on the platform in the youth room, installing plumbing, heating and electrical. * 6:08 PM 0 comments

Making Progress

Progress on a project like renovating the building never happens as quickly as one likes, but it does happen. Most noticeable are things like the new hallway wall between the library/resource centre and the offices which has now been drywalled (including being taped and "mudded"). It still needs a few things (including doors) and paint, but looks great. The electricians have run new wiring all over the auditorium and the other areas that need to be wired. Plus they are running lines for the audio-visual system. Lines have also been run for the telephone and internet systems.

We have a meeting with the city on Wednesday, Nov. 19, for the variance for our sign. It would be good to be able to get started on putting it in before it gets much colder.

The big set of windows on the southeast corner of the building have been removed and the space reframed. We are close to being ready for the window contractor to come in and install all the new windows. Except for the stained-glass windows in the auditorium and the south-facing windows in the library/resource centre, we're planning on replacing all the main floor windows with new, high efficiency, triple-pane windows.

Work on the HVAC system, hopefully, will really get going this week. It will be great to have heat at the north end of the building. The plan is to get part of the system up and going ASAP to provide heat for that space. * 11:22 AM 0 comments

Bee Hive

Things have been very active around the building this week.  In addition to our Saturday workdays, there have been people working on carpentry, heating, electrical, cutting holes in concrete for heating vents and plumbing, etc.  It's great to see all that's going on.
 
A banner/sign has been attached to the St. Mary's side of the building, just to the south of where the new kitchen will be.  It simply says, "Central Church of Christ" in large letters, with our web address below, with a little artwork to give it a some color.

The studs for many of the new walls are up.  This includes the office hallway, upstairs classrooms, kitchen and main floor bathrooms, and the platform and front walls.  Much of the interior ramp is in.   The electric lines for the lights in the auditorium are in, as well as much of the main hall, bathroom and kitchen area. 

Hopefully, we will soon see the window contractor come in to replace most of the main floor windows.  The drywall contractor is supposed to be in this week to put the ceiling into the furnace room.  Later, there'll be the big job of doing all the walls and ceiling in the auditorium as well as the bathrooms, coatroom and kitchen areas.

On Friday, we had our first visit from the building inspector who checked the wiring in the hall wall between the resource centre (library) and offices.  We have the go ahead to put up the drywall there.  We want to try to get this area in shape as quickly as possible.

We've also been replacing the ballasts and tubes in the fluorescent light fixtures in the building. We've done the resource centre, work room, corner office and the entry hall.  (That's 26 fixtures - or 51 ballasts out of 218!)  This will take a while to complete. But, the energy savings should be noticeable, since the new ones are high efficiency (and there is a Hydro rebate for all the ballasts). * 2:13 PM 0 comments

Ready for Action!!!

With the receipt of the building permit on Thursday, things should really get busy this week - as far as activity from some of our contractors.  Through the workdays of the past several months, much of the building is now ready for the renovation work to begin.  The old boiler has been removed and the boiler room has been cleaned up, ready for the installation of the furnaces that will heat the auditorium.  As winter looms, this is one of the more critical aspects of the project, since about half to two thirds of the building does not have heat.  Fortunately, the second floor area that we will be using as classrooms, the office area (formerly the bookstore and AVEL area, and the multi-purpose room (main floor room with wood floor) are all heated by rooftop units. 

In addition to the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), there are a number of other things for the contractors to do.  These include: plumbing, electrical (wiring and new lighting), replacement of the windows on the main floor (which, with winter coming, needs to be done as soon as possible), replacement of exterior doors including the main front doors, drywall, flooring, etc.  Beyond this, there are projects that we will be doing ourselves.  For example, we have started converting all of the flourescent lighting fixtures to new, high efficiency ones.  This involves replacing the ballasts and the tubes in each fixture.  Many of the fixtures have two ballasts and four tubes, some have just one ballast and two tubes.  To give an idea of the scope of this, we have something like 210 ballasts to install!

We continue to hear from our new neighbours, people who live in the Norwood area, and who are pleased to see what is happening with the building.  Many have shared their concerns about some of the previous plans for the building/property which have included condos and a strip mall.  We thank all of you for making us feel so welcome.

Many are asking when we will actually be able to move into the building.  We have an estimate that it will take 3-4 months to complete all the work on the HVAC and plumbing.  That should give a ballpark figure.  There is much to co-ordinate and complete.  Since some of the work is dependent on the completion of other work, we may just have to wait and see. * 6:12 AM 0 comments

We have a building permit!!!

Mark October 30, 2008 as a red letter day.  It has taken longer than we'd expected, but after a long wait, we now have the building permit and can now work on completing the renovations. There is much work ahead, but will try to periodically report on progress, and also include pictures.  So, stay tuned! * 10:33 PM 0 comments

Tick - Tock - Tick - Tock - Tick - Tock

That's the sound of time passing.  Wish we could report that construction has started.  But, we're waiting, not knowing when the building permit will be issued.

What we can report is that we know that it is being processed (as opposed to sitting in an "in" box on someone's desk).  People with the city have been going over the plans, calling our architect and discussing problems, proposed changes or just asking questions for clarification. He has made necessary revisions.

Lord willing, we will soon be able to report that everything is in place, and we will be starting construction (or in this case, likely the proper word is reconstruction.)  So, keep checking in.  We'll let you know as soon as we hear that the permit has been issued. * 9:20 PM 0 comments

Making Progress

Though things sometimes seem to be only creeping along, progress is being made.  On Monday, the architect gave us the finished plans.  This meant that we could get in our application for a building permit on Tuesday morning.  Now, we just have to wait.

Also, this week, the baptistry was finally delivered.  It had been held up due to some snafus at Customs.  It came loaded on a flat-bed truck and we had to have a crew of guys to lift it off the truck and carry it into the building.  We'd thought that it might be packed in some kind of crate.  But, it only had a cardboard cover that was strapped onto the top.  It had traveled all the way from Texas on a flat-bed.

What we didn't know is that the cover didn't really keep anything out.  When we tried to move the baptistry, it was incredibly heavy.  Someone lifted a piece of the cardboard cover and found that there was about a foot of water inside!  So, first thing was to bail out the water.  Thankfully, we had several guys to get it off the truck and into the building.

Each day is another step closer.  Once we get the permit, then we should really be able to make progress.  We are continuously being reminded of what a great opportunity God has blessed us with. * 10:14 AM 0 comments

July 12 Workday

What happens when 67 people show up to help with our first workday? An amazing amount of work. The plan was to work from 9 a.m. to 4:30, with a barbecue lunch. The enthusiasm was such that several came well before 9 and some stayed until 5.

At this point, getting things cleaned up and ready to start the positive work on renovations as soon as we get our building permits. There was a large amount of leftover debris and junk to be disposed of. By about 2/3 of the way through the day, a very large dumpster was overflowing. (Hopefully, it will be dumped and ready to be refilled on Tuesday evening.)

An almost full day of rain and power outage made things a little more interesting. Despite lots of hard work, it was a day of fun and fellowship. We hope to do it again in the not too distant future. * 8:43 PM 0 comments

Reality Is Stranger than Fiction!

Those passing by the Norwood building may have noticed that some bright yellow signs have been posted on the property. These signs are announcing a zoning variance meeting. You might be asking, "Why does the congregation need to go to the city for a zoning variance?" After all, we are planning to use the building, simply, for the purpose it has had since 1947 when the original part was constructed.

It turns out that as the building/property has changed hands, it was rezoned! The process was that the United Church sold it to a developer who planned to turn it into condos. He apparently ran out of funds, so he sold it to the church group that eventually sold it to us.

So, we have discovered that the building, now, is not zoned for use by a church. It is zoned to be used for condos (multiple-family residences). So, we have to go through the process (and cost) of having it rezoned so we can use it as a church building. (The fact that it is such a building doesn't mean anything!)

Guess this is a case where if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, but isn't zoned to be a duck means it isn't a duck. * 11:20 AM 0 comments

Making Progress - Slowly

From the outside of the building, it may not look as though there has been much progress. Yet, there has been a lot of clean-up type work. Bushes and trees have been trimmed. Flowers planted. The lawn looked after.

What has mainly been happening is in our planning meetings and consultations with the architect and other professionals. A team of over 20 members of the congregation have been meeting regularly to discuss and work out the renovations that are needed. These people represent a number of different abilities, backgrounds, skills and points of view. It is exciting to see the vision that is emerging - a plan to make the Norwood building into "our space."

At this point, it is time to pass this on to the architects and engineers for their input and to begin the actual plans. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, these can be reviewed and approved by the team so we can move on to the next step - having the plans approved by the city and being issued a building permit.

Please keep us in your prayers. * 1:10 PM 0 comments

Major Changes

Over the past few months, the Central congregation has experienced a number of major changes. We sold our building. The title will be transferred within a week. We bought another church building, on St. Mary's Road, formerly used by the Norwood United Church. We sold a large part of our property on Waverly to the province. On May 11, we had our last Sunday in our Osborne St. building. The following Sunday, May 18, we began having our Sunday services at River East Collegiate (mornings) and Lord Roberts Community Centre (evenings). We have moved our office to the Great White North Management Centre on Mulvey Ave. East. This past weekend, May 23/24, we moved out of our Osborne Street building.

Our last Sunday in the building was wonderful. The highlight was that four precious souls were baptized into Christ. It was also the day for our children's presentations. We capped the day with a congregational picture in front of the building, and a fellowship in the evening. It was a long day, but a great way to end our time in the building.


Looking Back

The first congregation began in Winnipeg on April 7, 1901. In 1906, it became the Sherbrook St. congregation. In 1932, a second congregation started in St. James. In 1952, it became the Osborne St. congregation when it constructed the original building at 217 Osborne St. Then, in 1960, a third congregation began in Windsor Park.

In 1970, the three congregations amalgamated to form the Central congregation. The Osborne St. building was renovated and enlarged into the present Osborne St. facility. It is a striking building located at one of the best known (and most infamous) intersections in the city - "Confusion Corner" - where Osborne St., Pembina Highway, Corydon Ave. and McMillan Ave. all converge. It is just south of downtown, with both Osborne and Pembina (Donald) carrying traffic from the centre of Winnipeg. However, despite a highly visible location, it lacked some very important things, like parking, accessibility and adequate room.

The main floor, about 5,500 square feet, was mainly auditorium, lobby, offices, library and nursery. In the basement there was space for classes, fellowship, and bathrooms.

It has been a good building which has served the congregation well. But, it is time to move on.


About the Norwood Building

The building is on St. Mary's Road, the third major street coming south from downtown Winnipeg. It is about the same distance from downtown as Osborne, and closer to Portage and Main, one of Winnipeg's most famous intersections.

Many Winnipeggers refer to Norwood as a "landmark building" because of its prominent tower and steeple. The building is situate on 8 lots. It has just under 22,000 square feet on the main and second floors with about another 5,000 in the basement. The auditorium, itself, is about the same size as the whole main floor of the Osborne St. building. Originally built in about 1947, there were two later major additions.


Our Challenge

Originally, another church group bought the building. They began working on the building, primarily demolition to prepare for future renovations. When they realized that it was much larger than needed, they abandoned their plans and sold the building.

On one hand, this means that we face a large amount of work just to get the building into a useable condition. On the other, this means we will be able to reconfigure some major spaces in the building and make it our own. First, we have to figure out what this will look like. Then plans have to be drawn up, building permits acquired and the work done (or have it done).


We'll try to keep you posted here on our progress. * 9:48 PM 0 comments

Temporary Locations

Church office
For the near future, our office will be in the GWN Professional Centre, 3rd floor, 421 Mulvey Ave. East (off Osborne across from Co-op Gas). This is accessed through the north door (by the train tracks). Phone number and email info should remain the same.

This facility also offers us space for our Wednesday evening class and FriendSpeak program. We hope to resume our Wednesday evening class on June 4.


Sunday Morning
River East Collegiate, 295 Sutton Avenue

Sunday Evening
Lord Roberts Community Centre, 725 Kylemore * 8:33 PM 0 comments