RA IS ING TH E R OOFELLISDON REPLACES ROGERS CENTRE

ROOF IN ITS RETURN TO THE DOME

Chris Massé fully grasps the significance of the current project he’s overseeing, both for himself and

the company.

“How many people can say they put a new roof on the Rogers Centre?”

EllisDon is at the helm of the roof replacement project for Rogers Centre, which involves a complete replacement of the retractable roof. A new PVC roof membrane on all four panels will be installed in addition to a new snow melt system for the Panel 2 gutter. This is the first time EllisDon has worked on the iconic structure ever since the company built it back in 1989 – we’re glad to be back.

Left to right: Assistant Superintendent, Liam Whelan and Site Superintendent, Chris Massé

A lot has happened since EllisDon worked on Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome). Musical legends have touched its stage, world leaders have gathered under its roof, and unforgettable home runs have gone over its blue outfield walls. EllisDon is proud to partner with the Blue Jays on maintaining this iconic facility.

These types of projects only come around once

in a lifetime

“

“

“These types of projects only come around once in a lifetime and it’s definitely something our team here is very proud to be a part of,” says Massé, the project’s site superintendent. “We all know there will be some sleepless nights and some stressful times, but in the end, we know it will be worth it.”

The multi-million dollar investment will modernize the roof, helping conserve energy and promote operational efficiency while providing improved reliability, safety, and diagnostic capability. The job also involves removal and disposal of PVC Sar-nafil, mechanical fasteners, approximately 5% of the insulation, insulation support plates, edge metal plates, metal snow diverters, approximately 25% metal battens, and metal flashing.

So far, the project is moving along well, but like most construction projects, it has also experienced its share of challenges. This past winter, Toronto was dumped with over 135cm of snow and temperatures dipped into “polar vortex” territory. According to Massé, the harsh winter weather created some unpredictable conditions on the building’s roof.

“The weather can also be completely different between roof panels. For example, Panel 1 will get sun most of the day, which melts the snow and allows us to con-tinue. Panel 3 hardly gets any sun and therefore the snow accumulates and tends to come down several days later (sometimes weeks),” he says. “We had to make adjustments to the locations of the swing stages on Panel 3. One side of the panel is approximately 55,000 square feet, so you can just imagine the forces of the snow coming down onto the swing stages at the lower edge. Because of this, we had to store them up to the top if we were expecting more than 5cm of snow.”

WEATHERING THE STORM

There will be some sleepless nights and

some stressful times, but in the end, we know

it will be worth it

“

“Despite the inclement weather, the project team has adapted, and has come out on the other end still on course.

“We had to take advantage of good weather days, even if those landed on weekends,” he added.

The last time EllisDon worked on this building, the Toronto Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series three years later. If that’s any sort of omen, then the city needs to start planning the parade for 2022 and 2023. We’re just saying.