Spectrum

Background

Described as one of the largest master-planned communities in North America, Concord Pacific Place is an extensive part of downtown Vancouver, covering 204 acres with both residential and commercial properties. Because of this significant ground coverage, it offers 9,100 residential units alongside 232,258 m² (2.5 million ft²) of commercial space.

Of course, space isn’t the only advantage this community provides. Residing over former Expo 86 grounds, Concord Pacific Place also gives people close access to Vancouver’s downtown core and the award-winning waterfront neighborhood near the shores of False Creek.

To add to these beneficial features, Concord Pacific chose to develop another project within Concord Pacific Place. Known as Spectrum, the project is worth $170 million and consists of a 32-story complex with both retail and residential areas. Some of which include a below grade parking facility, an in-house movie theater, a 13,657-square meter (147,000-square foot) Costco store, and four high-rise towers that house approximately 1,000 residential units.

During the planning stages of this project’s three-level below grade parking facility, the construction team specified bentonite waterstops to waterproof the structure’s cold joints. Early on in the construction process, however, wet and rainy weather made it difficult to install the bentonite waterstops. The required adhesives weren’t sticking, and the bentonite was not adhering properly to the rough concrete surfaces. It was also virtually impossible to tarp the surrounding work areas to keep the bentonite waterstops dry. Frustrated with the resulting delays and leakage, the Spectrum construction team decided to look for alternative waterstop systems.

Solution

To replace the failing bentonite waterstops, Spectrum’s building envelope consultant, JRS Engineering Ltd., suggested using Kryton’s Krystol Waterstop System.

As one of their employees, Doug Eaton, noted, they had successfully used the system before for other projects:

We’ve used the Krystol Waterstop System in other jobs in the past. We knew it performed well and that it would address the challenges faced on this project.

After a similarly successful product demonstration, the Spectrum construction team chose the Krystol Waterstop System to retrofit leaking joints and replace the bentonite waterstops in the structure’s remaining joints. In the end, they were more than happy with the work, with Eaton commenting with the following:

The project team was pleased that construction could resume, and the formwork people were thrilled because the Krystol Waterstop System made their lives much easier.

By 2007, they had completed the project, and to date, the Krystol Waterstop System remains in place performing well while all the structure’s joints remain leak-free. With such a successful end result, Concord Pacific has gone on to use Kryton solutions for a number of their other buildings in Vancouver.