June 26, 2006

JEFFREY G. WALLANS CONSTRUCTION LIMITED

A more architecturally pleasing Silverthorne pumping station.

Renovation

Pumping station now a work of art

DAN O’REILLY

correspondent

MISSISSAUGA

Not only has it been given a new life as part of a strategy to eliminate spalling brick and mortar failure problems, a 40-year old water pumping station in Mississauga has become a local landmark with its new image.

The improvements to the Silverthorne pumping station on Bloor Street, just east of Cawthra Road, include a new brick façade with architectural precast concrete mouldings around the doors and windows, stucco moulding around the perimetre of the roofline, and four raised towers.

Other work included replacing an industrial bay entrance door with an architectural industrial door on the east side, and a matching false door on the west side, plus decorative piers and fencing at both ends of the building.

Designed by ATA Architect Inc., the station’s new look helps it blend in with its surrounding environment, a residential community, says Alex Temporale, of the Oakville-based firm.

“The early modernist design creates a bold statement, while at the same time breaking down the building scale to one more in sympathy with the residential homes across the street.”

JEFFREY G. WALLANS CONSTRUCTION LIMITED

Work on the Silverthorne pumping station included replacing the existing façade.

Constructed in 1967, the station is part of the South Peel System, the huge network of treatment plants, pumping stations and watermains that provides water to the cities of Mississauga and Brampton, and the community of Bolton in Caledon.

Over the years, the façade of the building had deteriorated, says Grace Krasowski, project manager with Peel Region’s Water & Wastewater Treatment department.

“The problem related to spalling brick, mortar failure and numerous cracks due to a lack of a cavity air space and weepers to release the moisture trapped between the block and brick veneer.”

The Region decided to replace the existing façade with a new structurally improved one that would allow moisture to escape, says Krasowksi.

“We started work last September, stopped during the winter and are now completing the final stages,” says James Booth, vice president of operations, Jeffrey G. Wallans Construction Limited, the Mississauga-based general contractor chosen for the approximately $1 million project.

Some of the trades who worked on the station included masons, concrete formers, roofers, and structural steel installers, and window and stucco installers.

The work did not impact on the actual operation of the station, says Booth

“This is the first pumping station that we’ve done,” says Booth, who hopes Peel Region will use the Silverthorne station as a model for similar projects.

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