Excavating with North Construction

North Shore’s ‘The Courtenay’ – Excavating with North Construction

North Construction’s Experienced Excavating Crew Lays Groundwork for North Shore’s ‘The Courtenay’

Nestled on the side of Cypress Mountain, The Courtenay is a multi-residential apartment tower with panoramic ocean views of the Salish Sea and English Bay. It is a feat of design and construction situated on the steep mountainside of one of Vancouver’s most iconic mountains.

Excavation Services –  Partnership With North Construction

British Pacific Properties approached the North Construction team in 2018 after having recently successfully completed similar excavation and site prep projects together in the area. Their plan was to have North Construction lay the groundwork for what would be the spectacular seven-story building sculpted into the surrounding landscape.

The experienced team at North Construction was consulted from early on in the planning stages. The work that would need to be done to get the foundation down to grade would require extreme precision. The technical blasting, rock removal, excavating and shotcrete spraying had to be executed with finesse and the utmost safety awareness to ensure minimal disruption to the surrounding subdivisions, roads and environmentally-sensitive areas.

A deep excavation had to be done on the rugged terrain where the back of the building would snugly sit against the land. North Construction gathered a skilled crew and their top-of-the-line fleet of excavators equipped with 3D GPS technology to get the job done right. Using regular drone surveys from North Construction’s sister company, Spitfire Drone Survey, they were able to update the project managers, engineers, and architects with monthly progress reports that kept the project on track. Even when faced with enormous boulders in the glacial till (jokingly nicknamed “The Titanic”, “School Bus”, and “Dinosaur”) and working in areas of near-vertical terrain, the team was able to complete the work required to cut a clean multi-shelf design into the hillside.

The magnitude of shotcrete that was then needed to seal the excavation surface to prevent future erosion and give it structural integrity was one of the largest sprayed concrete jobs undertaken by North Construction. The work was extensive and had to be completed within a tight timeline, and while the groundwater in some areas made the process difficult the project continued on track.

Successful Execution and The Results

Working in stages throughout the entire project, the North Construction crew’s close partnership with the team at British Pacific Properties and the subcontractors ensured a seamless execution.

“There was definitely good synergy with the groups,” says Erik Carleberg, North’s Project Manager for The Courtenay Project. “It’s always been North’s philosophy to be fair, and we all worked together instead of against each other to ensure the project went smoothly.”

The resulting structure is an architectural marvel that intimately nestles into the North Shore’s mountain. North Construction continues to be involved in the ongoing construction of The Courtenay, as servicing needs to be done to install storm and water sewers. Completion of the building is expected in 2021 when a new community of outdoor adventure-seekers and nature-lovers will move into their forested neighborhood.