As most will know, EnCana has been floating an idea to build a 2M sqft complex in Calgary. Two towers, with the taller one in access of 60 floors [perhaps 800-900 feet]. Currently the tallest tower in Western Canada is PetroCanada's world headquarters at just over 700 feet.

If I caught last night's news report right, Calgary City Hall just gave EnCana approval to take down a hotel they own, which is adjacent to a couple of parking lots they had purchased. This paves the way for detailed design followed by construction - they are targeting 2006-2009 for building the thing.

Anyone have any insights on what this will look like? I believe the site, Centre and 7th Ave S, is not that far from PetroCan.

Post a rendition is you have one!

1) Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, has any idea what this thing will look like. Anything you have seen or any estimates made by the community are just wild guesses so far.

2) All that's been said so far is that the York Hotel has been purchased by Encana. They might incorporate it into the podium for one of their towers. The whole point of the purchase was so that Encana could get past density restrictions. In fact I think a condition is that Encana can't demolish the York, because it is a historic building.

2) All that's been said so far is that the York Hotel has been purchased by Encana. They might incorporate it into the podium for one of their towers. The whole point of the purchase was so that Encana could get past density restrictions. In fact I think a condition is that Encana can't demolish the York, because it is a historic building.

Ah yes - the York Hotel (for some reason I couldn't remember the name). I believe it was Tuesday's City Council meeting - EnCana gained approval to take down the York - so everything is now clear for the project to go ahead. This would have been a significant hurdle, as creating a large building would have been tough while incorporating a neglected building such as the York around its base.

Are you sure?

Read this article:

Wed, October 5, 2005

EnCana looks to York Hotel for tall order

By MICHAEL PLATT, CALGARY SUN

The Calgary skyline is set for a major shakeup as a local oil giant is planning to build the city's tallest office tower.

Mayor Dave Bronconnier yesterday confirmed that EnCana Corp. is negotiating to buy the city-owned York Hotel and its 132 low-income rental rooms to erect what is being billed as Calgary's highest office tower, at 60-plus storeys.

"It's an exciting opportunity when you consider the east end of Calgary is in dire need of being cleaned up and revitalized," said Bronconnier.

The EnCana Tower -- plus a second, shorter tower -- is actually slated for a block north of the hotel, at 636 Centre St., but the need for parking lots and increased density make the 75-year-old York a tempting buy.

To build a million-sq.-ft. tower, EnCana needs to increase the maximum density allowed under city rules -- and density can be borrowed from the neighbouring York, as long as EnCana agrees never to build a tower on that site.

Bronconnier said he expects much of the historic and once-proud York will be restored and saved through the deal, which still has no public price-tag or timeline.

Those living in the York have re-cently complained about deteriorating conditions in the hotel, which sits on a corner revitalized in recent years by new restaurants and the Hyatt Hotel.

At least one alderman has expressed dismay over the loss of low-income housing, with Ald. Bob Hawkesworth telling city council that the move is in the wrong direction when it comes to affordable housing.

Are you sure?

Read this article:

I hear ya' - but I'm certain that Global reported the request / approval was to take down the York. I'm not sure when your article is from, but I'm guessing it's a pinch old.

IF the York is left, I hope someone cleans it up.

That article was from either yesterday or the day before.

EDIT: Actually I just checked the Calgary Sun's site and that article was from TODAY.

I guess you are right. According to CFCN, the city is now being given 8 months to relocate residents of the York Hotel. Looks like they are gonna demolish it.

City to buy new homes for York residents.



CFCN.ca


POSTED AT 5:21 PM Wednesday, October 5


We now know what is going to happen to people living in the York hotel.

The city is buying several apartment buildings to accommodate the low-income residents who now call the York home.

"There will be at least 130 units of additional housing purchased by the Calgary Housing company in order to replace 130 units that are at the York Hotel," says Ward 4 Alderman Bob Hawkesworth.

The city bought the York hotel in 1992 for use as low cost housing.

Energy giant Encana is planning to build an office tower on the site.

Calgary housing says it's now searching for about five apartment buildings to house York residents.

"We are going to work with each resident individually to develop and individual relocation plan based on what it is that they want to do," says Hawkesworth.

The city says it has eight months relocate the York hotel residents.


Here is a look at the site (thanks to marts1x from SSP):

http://www3.telus.net/yycmarts/Encana.jpg

There are definitely conflicting reports on whether the York will come down. One article says they could buy on the condition they do not build on the site, another says that it will be saved and or it is just being used to transfer dinsity to the main site, which is on the other side of 6th ave. Others say it is coming down.

I believe because they were proposing a tower bigger than the maximum density (likely something over 60 floors) would allow, the only way to achieve this density was to transfer denisity rights from a historical site to another. To do this they have to won the building. They obviously offered a bundle of money because it is the only way I could see the City even considering selling one of their most prized low income Property.

I certainly hope they are going to save the building and are going to make EnCana pay for thw relocation of the residents of the york.

From a building standpoint it almost certainly means we are getting an extremely tall tower, if they had to resort to transferring density. My guess is that this tower will be between 900 and 1000 ft tall.

OMG I can't wait to see what it looks like. I really wonder which architect was commissioned for this.

I was just talking to my sister who works for the City of Calgary - she mentioned that there was quite a bit of talk over the last while at work regarding finding places for the folks in the York.

Matthews Southwest and EnCana Join Forces to Develop 2 Million Square Foot Office Tower Complex in the Heart of Downtown Calgary

DALLAS, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- EnCana Corporation, the largest producer of
natural gas in North America, and the largest company in Canada faced a
dilemma when it came to headquartering their employees. Topping out at almost
3,200 people, a company of that size is challenged when facing space issues,
with the teams currently housed in several different locations in downtown
Calgary.
Enter Matthews Southwest, a Dallas based company best known for
development of corporate offices, institutions, and residential projects, as
well as the largest loft conversion project in the world: award winning South
Side on Lamar (conversion of over 1.1 million square feet). South Side on
Lamar has long been a model to those looking for strategic urban development
and integrated land use planning, and Matthews Southwest has become a name
synonymous with urban rejuvenation within the Dallas metroplex and in the
development community at large. These cutting edge innovators have
systematically built a real estate powerhouse, with a growing fan base in the
development arena for their take on the standard operating procedures and
practical protocol.
The fresh approach to development created by the Matthews Southwest team
has helped to create projects in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. By
working with the client, owners, tenants, architects, and client staff
members, Matthews Southwest creates an environment of active participation in
the process, which helps to ensure that all the common goals are established
and met. Their approach also ensures that the tenants' goals are
systematically met, as opposed the common practice of developing for the
developer, and also creates an ideal baseline below market rent for the tenant
or return cash on closing, due to the financial engineering based on tenant
needs, not the developer. It is a new business model developed by Matthews
Southwest that puts the tenant and the developer on the same team, creating a
win-win scenario not found in today's real estate development market.
Matthews Southwest leader, Jack Matthews, is a man described as both
"gutsy" and a "visionary" by the press, with a keen sense of large scale
projects and all they imply. Dallas Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans, when
asked about the South Side project, said of Jack, "It's one thing to redevelop
a 5,000 square foot building, but the Sears building has more than 1 million
square feet ... the size of a skyscraper." His vision has not stopped there,
and he has been the driving force for full scale change of an entire
community, as well as the way Dallas urban development is looked upon and
implemented. His most recent development project includes a 1 million square
foot office complex for Bell Canada in Toronto, and the latest offering in
Calgary for EnCana Corporation.
The sheer magnitude of his latest venture with EnCana is a testament to
his vigilance and ability to work closely with the client to understand the
needs and strategic occupancy requirements necessary.
Since 1988, this dynamic and growth-driven company has acquired, built and
managed single and multi-tenant corporate office, institutional and industrial
developments throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada. From conception
to completion, Matthews Southwest brings together financial resources and an
experienced management team to form profitable partnerships focused on
creating projects of lasting excellence.
With strong emphasis on time management and cost controls, Matthews
Southwest provides investors the profitable return that initially attracts
them. With a confident vision toward conservative and controlled expansion, a
commitment to excellence and a corporate philosophy of minimizing risk and
maximizing long-term profit, Matthews Southwest is well positioned to continue
its momentum of developing quality real estate properties.

SOURCE Matthews Southwest

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-06-2005/0004162939&EDATE=

This is exciting news ! I've waited a very long time for the (now seemingly solid) prospects of Calgary getting a new tallest.

Exciting. I hope it's something interesting, especially if it'll be such a tall building.

WHOA CAN'T WAIT,THIS IS DEFIN. AN 800FT

Was just looking at a few views of Calgary's skyline. Though Toronto has taller buildings,
the overall look is much better in Calgary. Though you can't take anything away from the
CN Tower and the Rogers Centre, they are far from the rest of the cluster, and the tallest
buildings there are ugly anyway. Have a look at these pictures of Calgray [and then imagine
the new EnCana tower adding to it]. Beautiful! ...

http://www.viewcalgary.com/peter/night/images/saddledome_0859.jpg

http://www.viewcalgary.com/panorama/pBVinNW56.jpg

http://www.viewcalgary.com/peter/night/images/downtownW_0954.jpg


The buildings not only work together, but are vary interesting on their own also, particularly
Bankers Hall [IE the CIBC and Royal Bank buildings], Petro Canada Centre, Canterra Tower
and the Bank of Montreal building. The Husky Buildings are very cool also!

Amazing skyline shots & great news for Calgary. When will the renderings be unveiled?

I know there are tons of offices downtown, but how many people live in Calgary's downtown core?

Depends on how extensively you define downtown- in the downtown commercial core per se, 7200 as of 2005 civic census; if you add core-west end-east village-eau claire-chinatown, then it's about 16,000; add another 16,500 in the beltline (just south of the core); if you take all the inner city communities from Hillhurst to Bridgeland north of downtown and Bankview to Inglewood to the south, then you have something like 90,000.

Density is on the way up, given the numerous condo tower projects, including the largest residential tower in Alberta. Construction focus is currently along the south and the west, however, the east should get going over the next couple years [east village project].

EnCana hires Texas firm to advise on new tower
Energy giant will act as own developer
Gina Teel
Calgary Herald
Friday, October 07, 2005
http://working.canada.com/toronto/sectors/story.html?s_id=pHOMfkDuwl3gJoO3Y3KMR5snQK5E8%2BaGHdevb2J%2F8ktDA6hHq8Ifjg%3D%3D

EnCana Corp. has tapped Texas firm Matthews Southwest to oversee the energy giant's plans to erect a landmark two-million-square-foot office complex in downtown Calgary.

On board as a development adviser, Matthews Southwest is managing the project for EnCana, which is acting as its own developer on the project, EnCana spokeswoman Almas Kassam said Thursday.

"They have a proven record in partnering with large corporations to self-develop cost-effective, innovative and fit-for-purpose office buildings which is, as you know, exactly what we're looking to do," she said.

Speculation within the commercial real estate industry is that EnCana will build the tallest tower in Western Canada, a title currently held by the 52-storey Petro-Canada Centre.

However, Kassam said there's still no indication what the complex to house EnCana's 3,200 employees will look like, given that an architect has yet to be selected.

"The architect is really going to be a key player in terms of coming up with the schematic, so we're not there yet," she said.

Jack Matthews, president of Matthews Southwest, agreed.

"Anyone who tells you they know what it's going to look like is not telling you the truth, because no one knows what it's going to look like -- unless the architect we haven't hired yet has cut a plan out somehow," he said from his office in Lewisville, just outside of Dallas.

Matthews, a transplanted Canadian who lived and worked in Calgary in 1978-79 on the light rail transit construction project, said about the only certainty at this point is that EnCana wants a very intelligent design and good quality.

EnCana CEO Gwyn Morgan has described the project as a "signature development."

Matthews Southwest has been involved in many significant developments in Canada over the years, including the 36-storey, 936,000-square-foot tower built for TransCanada PipeLines in Calgary.

Matthews Southwest will co-ordinate all aspects of the EnCana project, including the selection of the consulting team, site acquisition, planning, design, procurement, logistics, scheduling, budgeting and managing the entire construction process.

The project is expected to be completed in 2009.

Earlier this week, the City of Calgary approved the sale of the 76-year-old York Hotel and a police parking lot to EnCana.

Both properties are located beside parking lots previously purchased by EnCana located across the street from Petro-Canada Centre.

gteel@theherald.canwest.com

If you receive "Business in Calgary" magazine, it has an article about Encana in it with some new information.

I don’t have a scanner so I'll type out part of the article.

EnCana Prepares to Unveil Concept for New Office Tower Project

The rumours will soon be put to rest. EnCana Corp's announcement that it has secured land on two adjacent blocks of property in downtown Calgary will be followed by the release of a conceptual drawing of the planned tower complex in the next two month.Among the rumours are that the new building will be more than 60 story’s high, making it the largest in Western Canada.

"It will change the skyline and it's going to transform that particular location in the city," says Drune Rimell, executive vice-president of corporate services for EnCana.

The estimated $540-million project could include one or two towers and will give the energy giant a major, centralized presence in the heart of the downtown core.

Once the building concept is announced perhaps later this month, the company will develop more detailed architectural plans in the new year and hopes to break group by late 2006 on the roughly two -million-square-foot project, says Rimell.

"It's a very significant project for us," she says. "It became increasingly obvious that it just makes a lot of sense from a cost point of view, but more important, from an employee point of view in terms of being all together."

The company's 3400 employees currently work in five different buildings downtown. This project will save money, but the transition will be done gradually to avoid "the release of a whole bunch of space on the market all in one fell swoop," she says.

Employees are tentatively scheduled to begin moving into the new complex starting in 2009 and completing the transition sometime in 2010.

Situated on the east side of Centre Street between 5th and 7th Avenues, the two blocks of space are currently being used as parking lots.

"it's going to be a development... of which EnCana can be very proud, but also of which all Calgary can be proud," says Rimell.

The company has been so busy making a smooth transition after the merger that created the energy giant that the timing just seemed right, she adds. "We've been building up to this."

In related news, plans are pushing ahead for two office towers that will flank either side of the Calgary Tower at 115 9th Avenue Developers are eager to break ground, despite some controversy raised by the Calgary Downtown Association and other groups that two twin towers will detract frim the tourist atmosphere of the area.

Each of those buildings would be about 26 storeys tall and house 450,000 sqaure feet of office space.

How tall is the current tallest In Calgary right now? I think Edmonton ( Manual Life ) is like 33 or something I think ?

Petro Canada Centre (taller one) at 53 stories or 215m.

How tall is the current tallest In Calgary right now? I think Edmonton ( Manual Life ) is like 33 or something I think ?

Manulife (this is the correct spelling) in Edmonton is 36 stories tall.

Heres a rendering of Calgary's Skyline with the addition of EnCana Tower.
NOTE: not an official rendering.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/nasdaq2000/EnCana.jpg

Nasdaq

Ideal placement for this project. Next-door to Petro-Can, creating an imposing peak in the skyline.

Nasdaq, your rendering looks great, but I think you've got the position slightly off. The EnCana tower will be directly behind PetroCan from this angle, not to the left. The way your rendering shows it would have this tower on the parking lot between 4th and 5th Avenues directly west of the Telus tower - but the actual lot is the one directly south of that, between 5th and 6th Avenues.

Nasdaq, your rendering looks great, but I think you've got the position slightly off. The EnCana tower will be directly behind PetroCan from this angle, not to the left. The way your rendering shows it would have this tower on the parking lot between 4th and 5th Avenues directly west of the Telus tower - but the actual lot is the one directly south of that, between 5th and 6th Avenues.

I realized that after I finished making it. But if I put it directly behind Petro Canada most of the tower would be cut off, and it would create an illusion that petro-can added a few extra floors instead.

If I had a picture facing south (?) it would be easier to actually show an uninterupted rendering of EnCana tower.

If I had a picture facing south (?) it would be easier to actually show an uninterupted rendering of EnCana tower.

There are several pictures at:
http://www.viewcalgary.com/panorama/panoramaHome.htm
however they are mostly either from the North or the East. From the SE (Stampede grounds) is about the closest to what you need.

Also, there is a picture facing north from the Calgary Tower ... this is exactly where the new tower would go:
http://www.viewcalgary.com/panorama/TowerNorth.html

I really would love to live out here!
Visited a few times think i might emigrate :)

This is one of the prime views that will change with the addition of the EnCana project. The EnCana building(s) will frame the Calgary tower from this view. The larger building on the right is the Petro Canada Centre, which is ~700 feet. The new building will be immediately left of the tower from this angle, and will likely be in access of 800 feet (maybe 900).

http://www.downtowncalgary.com/img/photo_gallery/hotspots_gallery1/hires/hotSpots_hires_23.jpg

So it's right across Centre St. from Petro-Can ?

So it's right across Centre St. from Petro-Can ?

Borris550 earlier posted the following map/image showing where the lots are located, which have been purchased for this project. The yellow box is the York Hotel, with the balance of the red boxes being parking lots. The Petro Canada centre is to the left of the top red box (across centre street), and the Calgary Tower is centred near the bottom. The prior picture I posted is from the North looking South along centre street, from the Lion's Gate Bridge.
http://www3.telus.net/yycmarts/Encana.jpg

This is one of the prime views that will change with the addition of the EnCana project. The EnCana building(s) will frame the Calgary tower from this view. The larger building on the right is the Petro Canada Centre, which is ~700 feet. The new building will be immediately left of the tower from this angle, and will likely be in access of 800 feet (maybe 900).

http://www.downtowncalgary.com/img/photo_gallery/hotspots_gallery1/hires/hotSpots_hires_23.jpg

I created a rendering based on the location you provided here.
Enjoy

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/nasdaq2000/EnCana1.jpg

Nasdaq

Thanks guys ! I want you to know I've been a fan of Calgary from the early 80's. And I'm probably almost as excited as you all are to see Calgary get its due - an iconic focal point for an already impressive skyline.

Rumours that Shell may try to buy EnCana ... sent the stock up 10% or so ... about $5Billion gains just today! Anyway, reason I'm posting this here is that I'm hoping such an event doesn't change the building plans! That would be a real shame, having come this far [purchasing land, budgetting $540M, etcetera].

Rumours that Shell may try to buy EnCana ... sent the stock up 10% or so ... about $5Billion gains just today! Anyway, reason I'm posting this here is that I'm hoping such an event doesn't change the building plans! That would be a real shame, having come this far [purchasing land, budgetting $540M, etcetera].
These rumours have been going on for about a month (early Sept). However, this is the first time that the rumour has had an impact on Encana's stock which could mean there is more credible evidence in the investor/broker circle that Royal Dutch Shell is moving in.

A company must operate 'business as usual' whether the takeover occurs or not.

EnCana Leads Real Estate Boom in Heart of Canada's Oil Patch
Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- On the site of a former oil exchange built during Calgary's first energy boom almost a century ago, EnCana Corp. plans to build Canada's tallest office tower in almost two decades.

EnCana, North America's No. 2 natural-gas producer, is erecting twin 60-story buildings for its 3,300 Calgary employees at the corner of 7th Avenue and Centre Street. The skyscrapers will replace an eight-story housing project, whose Art Deco sandstone-and-brick exterior looks out of place amid the glass- and-concrete towers in the downtown core of Canada's fourth- biggest city.

The EnCana complex, the largest office tower west of Toronto, will join at least six other buildings under construction in Calgary, as soaring oil prices and the lowest unemployment rate in 24 years spark a real-estate boom in Canada's energy capital. Office vacancy rates have dropped to 3.8 percent, making Calgary rents the highest in the country.

``Rents have increased meaningfully, and in our view, they'll continue to do that over the next couple of years,'' said Ric Clark, chief executive of Brookfield Properties Corp., whose planned C$1.25 billion ($1.06 billion) purchase of the Reichmann family's commercial properties in Canada will give it 30 percent of the office space near the Bow River in Calgary's core.

Alberta's economy is expected to grow 3.9 percent this year as oil producers increase exploration and hiring. Calgary now trails only Toronto in the number of corporate head offices in the country, after companies such as Imperial Oil Ltd. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. moved west.

Construction

The dwindling supply of vacant space is forcing energy companies and developers to build more towers. Calgary, a city of 1 million nestled between the western plains and the Rocky Mountains, will account for about a fifth of the new office space built in Canada in the next five years, CB Richard Ellis Ltd. forecast in an Oct. 5 report.

Calgary's office market will remain a ``landlord's market'' even as the supply of new space rises by about 16 percent in five years, said Michael Gigliuk, director of Alberta research for CB Richard Ellis. Vacancy rates may set a record low of 1.7 percent in 2006, beating the 2.8 percent rate of 1981, he said.

Trident Exploration Corp., a gas-exploration company, is building a 20-story tower and adding six floors to an existing office building. And Bentall Real Estate Services of Vancouver has started work on a C$220 million, 21-story complex.

EnCana's proposed headquarters, to be completed in 2009, would surpass the 53-floor Petro-Canada office across Centre Street. It will be the country's highest tower since the 68- story Scotia Plaza was built in Toronto in 1988.

One Location

The new office complex will allow EnCana to bring together employees scattered among five sites around Calgary, said Almas Kassam, a spokeswoman for Canada's second-biggest company by market value.

``When it's minus 30 degrees outside, and you have only five minutes to get to a meeting in another building, it would be far more effective to have everyone in one location,'' Kassam said in an interview.

Kassam declined to comment on the project's cost or size, or whether the company plans to purchase the building. The Calgary Herald quoted unidentified real estate officials who put the cost of the new project at C$540 million.

To accommodate growth and beat further rent increases, Acumen Capital Finance Partners Ltd. moved in August to an office with 8,000 square feet, or 19 percent bigger than their previous space.

``I knew my prices were going to go up and I just didn't want to be waiting to renegotiate with my landlord,'' Brian Pow, an Acumen vice president, said in an interview.

Most Expensive

Calgary, famous for its annual summer rodeo fair known as the Stampede, overtook Toronto as Canada's most expensive business district in the second quarter, when tenants paid C$26.85 per square foot. That compares with C$25.47 in Toronto, and C$36.82 in downtown Manhattan. Calgary has a vacancy rate about a third of Toronto's 11 percent, and below the national average of 9.1 percent.

Oil futures in New York have soared almost 50 percent this year, and reached $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30, partly on increased demand in China, India and the U.S. Gas futures have more than doubled this year, peaking at $14.75 per million British thermal units on Oct. 5. Alberta has more oil reserves than any deposit in the world outside of Saudi Arabia, and accounts for two-thirds of Canada's oil exports to the U.S.

Building Without Commitments

Rising energy prices have lifted EnCana's stock 70 percent this year. The company is expected to say this week that third- quarter profit almost doubled to $689 million, based on analysts' estimates.

The office space squeeze is encouraging some companies to build so-called ``spec'' towers in Calgary, or offices that spring up without any commitment from a major tenant.

Bentall Real Estate's complex is the first speculative project in Calgary in two decades and is 44 percent leased, said Randy Magnussen, western general manager for Bentall.

``As long as those prices are high, I don't see a softening'' in rents for several years, said Gigliuk at CB Richard Ellis.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Ian McKinnon in Calgary at imckinnon1@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: October 24, 2005 00:19 EDT

Gwyn Morgan retired today. what does it mean?????

Gwyn Morgan retired today. what does it mean?????Yea, as I mentioned on SSP, this came as a surprise? I wonder what's going on in the 'board room'.

EnCana project expands Calgary downtown
By CRAIG SAUNDERS
00:00 EST Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Special to The Globe and Mail
http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/WireFeedRedirect?cf=GlobeInvestor/config&vg=BigAdVariableGenerator&date=20051122&archive=gam&slug=PRCALGARY22

Fuelled by high oil prices, downtown Calgary is enjoying its biggest growth spurt since the early 1980s. Dominating a pack of new office tower projects is EnCana Corp.'s massive new headquarters, expected to exceed two million square feet.

"The office market in downtown Calgary is just on fire," says Randy Fennessey, president of Colliers International's Calgary office. The vacancy rate for single-A and double-A buildings downtown is a low 3.15 per cent, and rents are rising quickly.

"It's hard to even track," he says of rents, noting that achievable net effective rates -- rent minus any incentives or allowances -- have risen 20 to 25 per cent in the past year.

The EnCana project will likely be the city's largest office complex when its doors open around 2009. It will occupy four parcels of land on the east side of Centre Street between 5th and 7th avenues.

Before it goes up, however, at least four other major projects are likely to be built, and an additional half-dozen are on the drawing boards.

The Homburg-Harris Centre, a redevelopment of the old post office on 9th Avenue, will have two towers totalling about 400,000 square feet.

Centrium Place will have 225,000 square feet, and Opus 8 will have 230,000.

On the north end of downtown, Livingston Place will have two towers with about 420,000 square feet each. It is being developed by Bentall Real Estate for its client, British Columbia Investment Management Corp., a B.C. pension fund.

Livingston Place's location, in the Eau Claire district along the Bow River, is Calgary's next big growth area, with "a lot of great office sites," says Mr. Fennessey, the listing agent for Livingston. Calgary began trying to encourage development there in the early '90s, but just as the landmark Eau Claire Market was built, the oil patch went sour and development came to a halt.

Today, the City of Calgary is focusing its efforts on a part of downtown that has largely been ignored.

Commercial development has traditionally clustered west of Centre Street, leaving the east end between Centre and City Hall embarrassingly quiet.

The EnCana project will go a long way to making this area a vital part of the downtown core, city officials say.

"It will facilitate a new urban feel east of Centre Street," says Gillian Lawrence, the acting manager in charge of capital works for the City of Calgary.

City officials hope that having so prominent a project go up east of Centre Street will eventually lead to growth in the East Village area behind City Hall, as well.

East Village is a notorious dead zone of abandoned industrial land, railway tracks and seedy taverns. It's cut off from downtown by City Hall, which blocks 8th Avenue, the area's natural access route.

The city, which owns roughly half the land in East Village, will spend $70-million to $100-million on infrastructure there, improving flood control, building an underpass to connect the area to the Beltline neighbourhood to the south, and extending the Eau Claire River Walk trail system.

Another draw in the East Village will be the new Urban Campus, a joint project of the University of Calgary and other institutions. The university expects the cluster of buildings to house at least 2,500 of its students by 2010. Bow Valley College is also redeveloping its existing East Village campus and will acquire an adjacent block of land when the old courthouse is demolished.

EnCana made the jump across Centre Street because the site offers easy access and had few restrictions on development, says Craig Reardon, administrative vice-president for EnCana.

"It allows us to build whatever type of complex works best for us," he says.

The building also could be linked to the city's overhead walkway system, which connects downtown office buildings; from its Centre Street site, EnCana could link to the Telus Corp. and Petro-Canada buildings, as well as the city's convention centre. The site was also attractive because it's on the light-rail C-Train line.

EnCana has not decided whether it will build a single tower, which would be the largest in Calgary, or two or three smaller buildings. The development will house more than 3,500 EnCana employees currently working in other structures.

Mr. Reardon says EnCana will bring the company's employees under one roof "to achieve more collaboration and less wasted time walking back and forth." The new structure will also help attract and retain staff, he says.

At two million square feet, the EnCana building's size alone will make it a landmark. Downtown is dominated by Banker's Hall, with 800,000 square feet in each of two towers. EnCana will also dwarf the Petro-Canada and TransCanada Corp. buildings, which both have about one million square feet.

The EnCana project is being managed by Matthews Southwest, a Texas company headed by Jack Matthews, a graduate of the University of Western Ontario's Ivey School of Business. His company recently completed a one-million-square-foot office complex for Bell Mobility Inc. near Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

Because the EnCana project is in the planning stages, few details are available. "The intention is to create a village," says Mr. Matthews. It likely will include features standard in triple-A office buildings, Mr. Reardon says, such as a fitness centre, restaurants and shops.

Despite its prominence, the building is not likely to be a major departure architecturally. "We expect it to be distinctive, but 'unusual' is a scary word to me," Mr. Matthews says.

A lead architect has not yet been selected. A request for proposals was sent to eight "firms of international reputation or of major national reputation here in Canada who have experience in major commercial developments," Mr. Reardon says. That list has since been cut to three firms, and a decision is expected at the end of November.

Including EnCana, the next few years will see five to seven million square feet added to Calgary's office inventory, Mr. Fennessey says. That's the most development since the 1979-84 spurt that resulted in the creation of Calgary's modern downtown core.

In the meantime, demand for office space will ease slightly in 2007, as new towers open, tenants move in and existing space is freed up, Mr. Fennessey says. But it won't ease significantly until 2009, when EnCana and other downtown projects are completed.

Friday, Nov 25, 2005

EnCana eyes massive, two-block Calgary development



Bob Beaty
For mytelus.com
CALGARY - Colossal oil profits may fuel a massive urban renewal project on three full blocks in the heart of Calgary.

If all the pieces fall into place, it could easily be the biggest redevelopment project ever undertaken in Western Canada, if not all of Canada, observers say.

At the heart of this is EnCana Corp., which is currently trying to buy up all, or almost all, of two full city blocks smack in the downtown of this booming city.

While the lead architect hasn't been chosen yet, and negotiations are still going on to secure all the land, early plans call for two towers boasting roughly two million square feet of office space. The project would house all of EnCana's 3,200 employees.

A trigger for revitalization

If the giant oil and natural gas company secures all the territory, it may trigger redevelopment of another city block that the city itself will undertake in order to house some of the tenants EnCana displaces - chief among them the city's police force.

Tidbits of EnCana's stealth-like steps to acquire most of the two-block area broke several weeks ago when the company and Calgary Mayor David Bronconnier confirmed that the oil company had purchased some land in the two blocks. That leaked out of City Hall because EnCana inked a deal with the city to take over the historic York Hotel, which the city bought several years ago to act as affordable housing for hundreds of impoverished people.


Left unstated were the hush-hush negotiations EnCana was involved in with other property owners in that block and another adjacent block.

The two blocks EnCana seeks are bordered on the south by 7th Avenue S.E., on the north by 5th Ave. S.E., on the west by Centre Street and on the east by 1st St. S.E.

Not-so-smooth sailing?

Two City Hall sources said one of the reasons Bronconnier kept a lid on full details of the project when news of the York Hotel broke was because of the potential political time bombs that could go off before all the land deals are done. There are a number of tenants that could raise a ruckus, including war veterans who gather at the Number 1 Legion hall just east of the York Hotel.

There are also the destitute individuals and families who gather at the CUPS Community Health Centre, and police who use the Andrew Davidson building as their headquarters. Both buildings also sit east of the York Hotel.

Then there are the cultural issues that spring up over what will happen to heritage buildings in the blocks, including an old fire hall that Budget Car & Truck Rental occupies and the North-West Travellers building that was just restored by heritage developer Neil Richardson. Plans reportedly include preserving both structures.

Assuming EnCana ties up all the remaining properties it needs, the City has been drafting plans to revamp another city block - possibly to house both the police and CUPS. That block sits just north of old City Hall and two blocks east of the area EnCana has its agents working on, the two city sources said.

It is bounded by 6th Ave. on the north, 7th Ave. south, 3rd Street S.E. to the east and Macleod Trail to the west.

It contains the Central Library, the former police headquarters, a parkade and the provincial court building. Two city hall sources said a new police headquarters may be built on the block, and that it could also contain CUPS and the nearby Bow Valley College.

But some very senior city bureaucrats and the mayor have been toying with moving police to the Victoria Park area, just north of the Calgary Exhibition & Stampede grounds.

City movers and shakers were also looking at a block in East Village, just east of City Hall, to erect a new police headquarters.

Two veteran Aldermen, Dale Hodges and Joe Ceci, declined comment on where all the players may eventually wind up, given that negotiations are in a very early and sensitive stage. But they both confirmed that they too heard the development would take up the vast majority of the two blocks, if not all of it.

"It's a mad plot," Ald. Hodges said jokingly. "There are budgets ricocheting all over the place."

Tax dollars for the city

From a fiscal point of view, both Aldermen said the redevelopment of the two blocks will bring in a lot more city taxes, given that EnCana's use will be all corporate, whereas police and some other current property residents are tax exempt.

It also represents a major stride in tearing down the psychological barrier that Centre Street has always posed to commercial office developers, Ceci said. The vast majority of privately-funded office towers have risen west of Centre Street.

"This should break the curse (of the Centre Street barrier,)" Ceci added.

Both Ceci and Hodges and the two city hall sources said EnCana will almost assuredly save the facades or all of the buildings that have historic importance, so that won't likely be a major issue when it finally unveils final plans.

Veteran real estate broker Tom Dixon said as far as he knows this will be the only commercially-financed development that covers two city blocks in western Canada, or perhaps all of Canada.

"This is certainly unprecedented in Calgary because there is nothing that bridges two fully city blocks," Dixon said.

Calgary's tallest building?


Most Calgarians are familiar with the twin Bankers Hall towers that stand 52 storeys high. But they were built on just one city block.

Some of the early plans Dixon said he has heard about included one EnCana tower more than 60 storeys high – which would make it the tallest office building in Western Canada.

That would eclipse the biggest Petro-Canada tower that, at 56 storeys, still holds highest honours in Calgary.

The other EnCana tower may be between 40 to 50 storeys and the two towers might be connected over 6th Ave., at the fourth or fifth storey level, according to real estate speculation.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find something that has the kind of density EnCana is thinking of on two distinct city block locations anywhere," Dixon said.

EnCana spokeswoman Almas Kassam said no start-up date has been set, but that the target is to have the project completed within five years.

Kassam refused to confirm negotiations are underway to tie up all of the two-block area, saying there is a company policy prohibiting comment on anything that may or may not be pending.

However, she confirmed that the company has just closed bids from a number of prominent architectural firms and that an announcement on who will be "the signature architect" for the development is expected in the next three to five weeks.

Given that the overall design architect has not been chosen, Kassam said it is industry speculation that calls for construction of two office towers. "We may do two or three towers. We may only do one," Kassam said.

Historic structures to be preserved

Neil Richardson, owner of Heritage Property Corporation, is one of the property owners in the two-block area. His company owns the North-West Travellers building that was just recently restored and two other buildings that were formerly occupied by the Salvation Army.


Richardson confirmed he is in negotiations with EnCana's agent about the sale of his properties that sit in the block bounded by 5th Ave to the south, 6th Ave on the north, 1st Street on the east and Centre Street to the west.

He also confirmed it is his desire to have the Travellers building, which is designated a provincial heritage building, preserved in the redevelopment.

Mohammed Ali owns the Budget Car & Rental outlet in the old fire hall that sits at the corner of 6th Ave. and 1st St. S.E., just north of Richardson's Travellers building. The fire hall is owned by the City of Calgary and is on long-term lease to Ali's holding company.

Ali said his discussions revolved around him getting space in the new development, with the fire hall preserved. Another option is to leave things the way they are, with the new EnCana development butting up to the fire hall property.

Despite repeated requests for an interview, CUPS executive director Carlene Donnelly could not be reached for comment.

However, Bryan Fallwell, owner of the Billingsgate Fish Market that sits several blocks east of CUPS, said his real estate agent was approached to see if a deal could be made to buy his fish market to serve as CUPS' new home. But Fallwell said he didn't think the talks panned out.

Fallwell's real estate agent, Tim Sommer, refused comment saying the timing of the story, "wouldn't help the deal."

Where will the police go?

The City also owns the Andrew Davidson building that sits at the corner of 6th Ave. and 1st St. S.E. and it currently acts as the Calgary Police headquarters office.

A telephone interview request made to Deputy Police Chief Jim Hornby resulted in police spokesman Don Stewart replying. Stewart wanted to know what questions would be asked of Hornby.

"I don't know how much information is available at this point because it is just so early in the process," Stewart said, before adding that he would see what he could do about the interview request to Hornby.

Neither Stewart nor Hornby called back.

Ald. Hodges confirmed that talks are under way to move police out of the building to make way for EnCana. He said it's still up in the air where police would be relocated.

"The police building is not coming down very fast because we don't have another place for them right now," Hodges added.

A police source said all downtown sites city staff are exploring run counter to an old internal police study that called for the headquarters to be moved out of the downtown. That study concluded that downtown sites were risky because the main CP Rail line runs through the heart of the downtown and a hazardous materials spill from a train wreck could force closure of the police headquarters.

"We calculated that we would need to be at least as far away as the Jubilee Auditorium if we were to be safe from a major explosion at the CP tracks - and to be upwind," the source said.

When speculation about the Number One Legion being sold to accommodate EnCana came up, Bronconnier vowed it would never be sold. The City owns the building, and the Royal Canadian Legion has a lease on it until 2012.

City Hall sources and Hodges confirmed that the EnCana development could either butt up to the Legion or grow over top of it. Talks are well in the works to have EnCana's project development office rent some unused space in the Legion to act as construction headquarters when the massive project gets underway, Legion spokesperson confirmed.

Holy crap there is a lot in there. Sounds like there are some crazy negotiations happening. It sounds like the form of the development (1, 2 or 3 towers) depends on what they are able to negotiate with the city as far as properties such as CUPS and the Legion.



Assuming EnCana ties up all the remaining properties it needs, the City has been drafting plans to revamp another city block - possibly to house both the police and CUPS. That block sits just north of old City Hall and two blocks east of the area EnCana has its agents working on, the two city sources said.

I wonder how the new central library branch fits into all this. It is supposedly going to go on that block. maybe it will go the the East Village of Louse crossing or something. As far as the police, they would have to be building a new building ASAP - and perhaps the current police site would be the site of a second or third EnCana tower.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/EnCanasites3.jpg



Both Ceci and Hodges and the two city hall sources said EnCana will almost assuredly save the facades or all of the buildings that have historic importance, so that won't likely be a major issue when it finally unveils final plans.

Personally, I'd like to see the Firehall and Travellers building incoprporated into the overall development (the use changed for the firehall, Travellers building the same) but not developed on - and the architecture preserved as is. As for the Legion and the York - I'd like to see these buildings preserved pretty much as is, but maybe with some refurbishment if EnCana owns them. I don't want the Legion to be simply a Facade.

"It's a mad plot," Ald. Hodges said jokingly. "There are budgets ricocheting all over the place."

I bet - this is crazy. EnCana must be on the hook forfunding at least a part of the relocation of the Police, CUPS, and residents of the York beyond what they paid for the land.

Man in Bronco fucks this up, this is the kind of thing that could end a political career - there are some serious displacement and Heritage concerns here. Also some transparency issues as far the process of selling of city assets.

Some of the early plans Dixon said he has heard about included one EnCana tower more than 60 storeys high – which would make it the tallest office building in Western Canada.

The other EnCana tower may be between 40 to 50 storeys and the two towers might be connected over 6th Ave., at the fourth or fifth storey level, according to real estate speculation."We may do two or three towers. We may only do one," Kassam said.



I guess this all depends on how much land they secure. Seems like two towers is the most likely scenario. But it all seems up in the air. But it sounds promising. It would be pretty cool to have a 60 and 40 floor towers. One massive one as they suggest may happen would be pretty damn crazy too. It would have to be huge.

However, she confirmed that the company has just closed bids from a number of prominent architectural firms and that an announcement on who will be "the signature architect" for the development is expected in the next three to five weeks.

That is promising. "Signature Architect" - It sounds like perhaps a fairly promenent or well known architect will be chosen.

I can't wait 3-5 weeks fuckers.






A police source said all downtown sites city staff are exploring run counter to an old internal police study that called for the headquarters to be moved out of the downtown. That study concluded that downtown sites were risky because the main CP Rail line runs through the heart of the downtown and a hazardous materials spill from a train wreck could force closure of the police headquarters.

What a load of shit. If ther police are not "safe" in the downtown core, what about the other couple hudred thousand that are within that distance everyday. If it is that dangerous, maybe it is the tracks that should be moving.



When speculation about the Number One Legion being sold to accommodate EnCana came up, Bronconnier vowed it would never be sold. The City owns the building, and the Royal Canadian Legion has a lease on it until 2012.

I have a feeling this property would be the major stumbling block in the negotiations.

This is absolutely nuts. The project seems so much larger now. It'll be interesting what happens to Legion Branch #1.

Wouldn't it be interesting if they were grabbing more and more land so they could build one massive tower? It seems to me you would need a signicant footprint for the building. Can you imagine driving down through the base of the building?

Why do we have to wait so long for an architect though? Arghhh... they could at least tell us the finalists...

Personally, I'd like to see the Firehall and Travellers building incoprporated into the overall development (the use changed for the firehall, Travellers building the same) but not developed on - and the architecture preserved as is. As for the Legion and the York - I'd like to see these buildings preserved pretty much as is, but maybe with some refurbishment if EnCana owns them. I don't want the Legion to be simply a Facade.

I agree with respect to the Firehall and Travellers building, but I wouldn't mind if the York and Legion buildings are left as facades. Some of these buildings are kept like crap and fall into desperate states. Yet when someone wants to do something with the area, all the arms raise up exclaiming how the big bad developer is going to destroy heritage. Why the heck didn't the current owners and occupants do anything about the buildings before hand if they are so important? You see the difference with the Firehall and Travellers buildings - have been kept in excellent shape. The legion should move next to the cecil, drop-in centre and beer store on the East side between 4th and 5th ave (not too far from the new police station also). Maybe they can put in a second level on the beer store. It's a very prominent location!

Calgary development is really on fire - exciting times ahead.

Hmmm ... I was just thinking about the skyline again, and was wondering how the two buildings, assuming they are two buildings, should be oriented. Currently, the Petro Canada Tower is the tallest, with buildings tailing off on both sides. On the east side, there is the small brother of the Petro Canada Tower [both of which angle off on their top to the North-East direction], then there is the Calgary Tower and then the AGT building. I'm almost thinking that if the two new buildings are offset not only north-south, but also east-west, the Western one should be a pinch shorter and the Eastern one being taller. That way, there is a dip in the overall skyline at the Calgary Tower [could also work reasonably well with the Palliser Square development, which also plans to frame the Calgary Tower]. Of course, East of the possibly taller East building, there would be quite a drop-off, and that might look odd. Before anyone tells me, I realize that the two blocks are along the north-south axis ... I'm thinking with my fingers.

Also, the comment about perhaps having the building bridging overtop the avenue between the blocks would result in something rather cool. Given the large base, it could allow for a single building at the bottom, with two peaks above - one taller than the other. [could look like a two peaked mountain - with the mountains in the background].

Wow - 3-5 more weeks of guess work! hmmm ...

Three architectural firms hired for landmark office tower
Calgary's Zeidler project architect


Gina Teel, Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, December 08, 2005

Encana Corp. has retained three architectural firms, including two based in Calgary, to design and implement its landmark two-million-square-foot office tower complex project.

It's anticipated a design concept for the office complex, which will house EnCana's 3,200 Calgary employees, will be ready in the spring of 2006, now that the architectural team has been retained, EnCana spokeswoman Almas Kassam said Wednesday.

"Work will commence right away to start planning and designing," she said.

EnCana has retained Foster and Partners of the U.K. as its signature architect for its office complex project.

Based in London, the company is responsible for the main design and concept of the project.

Calgary's Zeidler Partnership, formerly known as Zeidler Carruthers Architects, is the project architect.

The company is responsible for implementing the design concept that Foster and Partners create and the bulk of the architectural process.

David Jefferies, managing project architect at Zeidler, said the EnCana project is pivotal in the development of the area east of Centre Street.

EnCana has purchased two parking lots across the street from Petro Canada Centre, the tallest office tower in Western Canada, as well as the 76-year-old York Hotel, for its site.

Jefferies said there's no doubt the complex will be a landmark project.

"This is, in my estimation, the most important commercial office project in Canada today, both for the city of Calgary and for Alberta, and for the country. It's a very significant project and will be viewed that way everywhere," he said.

Longtime Calgarian Jeremy Sturgess of Sturgess, Page + Steele has been retained as the master planner for the site.

Kassam said the firm is going to work with the architects to design a high-quality urban environment as well as the Plus 15 connections and street level development.

Sturgess said the firm will be looking at the significance of the site, the building, and the company in Calgary and focus on the site as a new heart of Calgary's downtown business centre.

"I think it's fair to say that EnCana is interested in creating a real kind of village within the context of that site, so our role will be how to make that work," he said.

Sturgess, who will meet with all the design partners in London Dec. 19 and 20, described the EnCana office complex as the project of a career.

"I've been working in Calgary in developing as an urban designer for 30 years, and when I say developing I mean widening our scope, and this is the opportunity of a lifetime to really have a very significant influence on what's going on in the city and I'm very excited about that," he said.

EnCana isn't divulging the project's cost, but industry insiders have estimated it at $540 million including land.

Speculation within the commercial real estate industry expects the project will feature two towers, one of which will be more than 60 storeys high -- making it the tallest tower in the west.

EnCana is North America's largest producer of natural gas.

gteel@theherald.canwest.com
© The Calgary Herald 2005

I read the title, saw the words NORMAN FOSTER... at that point my jaw dropped slightly and I went over to SSP to make sure everyone was serious about this!

Foster + Sturgess FTW!!!

Okay, this is really getting interesting. Here are some facts along with my take:

1) The Petro Canada Centre is just a hair under 2 million square feet - essentially the same size of what Encana will build.

2) One of the world's most renowned architectural firms has been hired to come up with the grand design.

I'm getting the impression that this will be one tall building rather than a set of twins. If they go with twins, the buildings would be very similar in height to what Petro Canada has. Why do that especially when you are right across the street? Encana doesn't want to match PC, they want to blow them away, and the only way they can do that is by towering over the tallest PC building. Foster hasn't done twins in the past from what I could see from their web site, so obviously they don't favor going that route. There is no way a leading architect will do a "me too" copy of Petro Canada by going with twin towers - no bloody way!!! And why would Encana go to a world-renowed designer if they already know that they want twin buildings? I think the architect has a clean slate to design what he thinks would be best for the site. Foster isn't going to go with twins.

My bet is that it will be one very tall building - 70 stories minimum. Perhaps even 80 stories! Well I can dream can't I? :)

should be a very nice tower to the already kick ass calgary skyline. good on calgary!

can't wait for the renderings and for construction to start.

^^ Bankers Hall complex is 2.6 million square feet - twin 52 story buildings. At 2 million sq.ft. it is not likely that Encana could go with twin 60 story buildings as earlier reported by Bloomberg a few weeks ago. I will be shocked if Encana goes with twins - I just can't imagine it anymore.

What do you guys think?

A replica HSBC? :D

http://www.mutantfrog.com/images/Hong%20Kong/HSBC.jpg

I think that building is rather ugly.

cant wait...btw does anyone know of this group's famous buildings designed?

^^ Bankers Hall complex is 2.6 million square feet - twin 52 story buildings. At 2 million sq.ft. it is not likely that Encana could go with twin 60 story buildings as earlier reported by Bloomberg a few weeks ago. I will be shocked if Encana goes with twins - I just can't imagine it anymore.

What do you guys think?

you are incorrect:

Bankers Hall East: 820 221 sq ft.
Bankers Hall West: 829 873 sq ft.

1.65 million sq ft total

cant wait...btw does anyone know of this group's famous buildings designed?

Here are some Samples of Foster and Partners:

Interestingly, going through their protfolio, it seems like the EnCana project may be their largest scale office type project in their firm's history.

Of course: the Gherkin

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster1.jpg

Hearst Magazine Tower: New York

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster8.jpg

Wembley
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster9.jpg

Hong Kong International

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster-10.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/foster-11.jpg

you are incorrect:

Bankers Hall East: 820 221 sq ft.
Bankers Hall West: 829 873 sq ft.

1.65 million sq ft total

Actually, I still think that I was right about the square footage of the complex. You are simply adding together the square footage of individual buildings and forgetting about the rest of the "complex". The complex also includes a 6-story building that I didn't mention, plus the square that the other 2 buildings stand on.

I did some research before I wrote, here is my reference:

"Other properties in the Calgary portfolio include the 2.6 million square foot Bankers Hall complex.... "

http://www.bpoproperties.com/news_43.htm

Here's another reference:

http://www.architecture.ca/firms/cohosevamy/bankershall/

You are right, Bankers Hall has a very large retail component in the complex that adds to the total area of the complex. I wonder how much rentable office space the EnCana project will have. If the majority of the 2 million sq. ft will be office. or whether there will be 2 million sq ft of office plus whatever retail space they have.

A combined 100 floors is probably more realistic than 2 X 60. I really do not believe it will be twins here anyway, so we're probably talking 40/60 or 35/65. Also, I do not believe the 2M sqft is a firm number. It will depend on what types of things the planners decide to include ... and I don't mean just in the pedestal.

I'd like to see some things up the tower besides just offices. As an example, if they construct a bridge from the top of the smaller tower to the middle of the larger tower, that bridge could incorperate a restaurant [at ~400-450 ft would be higher than the smaller tower in the PetroCan centre, with an excellent view of the Calgary tower (especially when lit on New Years) and Bankers Hall to the West]. Also, given the proximity to the convention centre, they perhaps should be considering putting in a hotel also [on the York Hotel block]. I'd bet half the hotel would be serviced just by EnCana visitors / out of town employees - so the business case shouldn't have much of an issue.

There has been quite a bit of discussion on SSP about the Comerzbank building by Foster, as a potential guide for part of the Encana project. Here are some pictures:

http://www.fosterandpartners.com/internetsite/images/project_media/0626/0626_02.jpg http://www.fosterandpartners.com/internetsite/images/project_media/0626/0626_06.jpg http://www.fosterandpartners.com/internetsite/images/project_media/0626/0626_07.jpg

http://www.emporis.com/files/transfer/sixwm/2002/08/157798.jpg
http://www.emporis.com/files/transfer/sixwm/2005/07/377947.jpg
http://www.emporis.com/files/transfer/sixwm/2004/07/281640.jpg

According to Emporis, it is 56 floors and 259m tall ... 300.10m tall including mast with signal light. Comments from Emporis:

- First so-called "ecological skyscraper" in the world because of new technology used for heating and cooling.
- There is a signal light on top of the mast which makes the building officially 300.10 meters tall.
- A triangular atrium rises through the entire building from the ground floor, divided by glass partitions. The atrium opens to the exterior wall at different levels, forming 9 very large gardens.
- Only the plaza level of Commerzbank's tower is accessible to the public. There is no observatory or open area on top.
- At night the building is illuminated in a changing yellow light scheme by artist Thomas Emde. The scheme is the winning result of a competition.

This brand new press release lists twin 60 story buildings - and states that came from EnCana spokeswoman Almas Kassam. Perhaps my prior speculation about the 2M number not being firm is coming true?

-----
EnCana Hires Norman Foster to Design 60-Storey Calgary Tower
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=aoitU9MrBflQ&refer=canada

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- EnCana Corp., Canada's biggest natural-gas producer, hired U.K. architect Norman Foster to design its new headquarters in downtown Calgary.

London-based Foster and Partners was picked last week as the lead architect for the twin 60-story buildings, EnCana spokeswoman Almas Kassam said in a telephone interview today. Construction is scheduled to start in 2007 and is likely to be completed by 2010.

The proposed complex will be the largest office tower west of Toronto and Canada's highest since the 68-story Scotia Plaza was built in Toronto 17 years ago. EnCana hasn't revealed the cost of the project. The Calgary Herald today cited unidentified officials who put the cost at C$540 million ($469 million).

Foster's projects include London's ``gherkin,'' Swiss Reinsurance Co.'s 40-storey tower in the city's financial district; the new Wembley stadium in London, and Germany's federal parliament building in Berlin. In Canada, Foster has designed the Jameson Tower in Vancouver and the Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building at the University of Toronto, according to his Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Sonja Franklin in Calgary at at sfranklin6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 14, 2005 13:21 EST

Foster and Partners to design new corporate headquarters complex for EnCana
14th December 2005
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/internetsite/html/simple.html
[click news on the left-hand column, and then select the latest item]

Foster and Partners has been selected to design a new high rise development in downtown Calgary. The EnCana New Building Project will be headquarters to Canada’s leading energy company, EnCana Corporation.

Following a thorough selection process and a visit to the Foster studio, EnCana based the decision on Foster and Partners’ demonstration of a clear understanding and alliance with the company’s values, principles, and progressive approach to issues of sustainability. Foster and Partners also offered unrivalled experience of the design of high quality, energy efficient offices and headquarters buildings, as well as the ability to achieve planning solutions through appropriate expressions of public space and civic values.

The project, located between Seventh and Fifth Avenues and spanning two city blocks, will be the first significant commercial project east of Centre Street in downtown Calgary. Locked into the fabric of the city, it will have a strong impact on the urban context. Its scope and magnitude offers a unique opportunity to set the tone of development for this emerging urban quarter - to provide a highly efficient, exemplar sustainable scheme.

“We chose the signature architect based on their ability to meet EnCana’s business interests and create a signature development. Foster and Partners was clearly the firm to do that,” Craig Reardon, EnCana New Building Project Lead

Norman Foster said, “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to meet EnCana’s business objectives with the design of a new office complex - to capture the collective consciousness of Calgary and to articulate the philosophy of an ambitious and progressive tenant. We hope to set a bold precedent for high quality, environmentally sustainable development of the downtown area while responding to the civic values of the city.”

For further information please contact Katy Harris or Josephine Cutts at Foster and Partners Tel. 44 (0)20 7738 0455, Fax 44 (0)20 7943 6097, email: press@fosterandpartners.com

Saturday, Dec 17, 2005

EnCana zeroes in on key downtown Calgary properties

Bob Beaty
For mytelus.com
CALGARY - It's the ultimate Christmas shopping spree - at least if downtown real estate is your thing.

Agents for EnCana Corporation, Canada's biggest natural gas producer, are telling some of the few remaining property owners in a two-block area of this city's downtown core that all land deals with them have to be tied up six days before Christmas.

That's when EnCana Corporation is set to hold the first formal meeting of its three architectural firms for the biggest urban renewal project in Western Canadian history. The three-day meetings, involving two Calgary architectural firms, start Dec. 19th and will be held in London, England, the hometown of EnCana's "signature" architect, Foster and Partners.

According to Neil Richardson, one of the few remaining property owners who hadn't yet agreed to sell, EnCana's agents were pushing hard to sew up the three buildings he owns at the corner of 1st St. S.E. and 5th Ave before those meetings begin.

"It (negotiations) seems to be heating up," Richardson said. "There is no question about that."

In the second block just south of the block Richardson is in, EnCana has yet to purchase the police headquarters, CUPS - a non-profit group that helps the destitute - and an old hotel called the Regis Plaza. Those sales would complete its purchase of over 90 per cent of the properties in the two-block area.

Wayne Krywko, owner of the Regis hotel at 1247-7th Ave. S.E. said he is still involved "in the dance" with EnCana's agents and probably won't know if he has a deal to sell until next week.

Once all the deal making is done, industry sources believe EnCana will spend a minimum $540 million – including land purchases – to develop the two office towers, one of which will surpass 60 stories and thereby claim rights to the highest tower in Calgary.

And given that a new headquarters may have to be built for police and a new home found for CUPS, EnCana's development could speed up demolition of the entire block north of City Hall where the main Library branch, the provincial court, a parkade and the old police headquarters building sit.

Rising from the rubble in the latter block could be a new main library branch, a new home for Bow Valley College, part of the planned University of Calgary downtown campus, possibly a new police headquarters and new home for CUPS, a variety of players said.

The plans have many staggered over the enormity of the EnCana project and other urban renewal developments that it may inspire. Lynn Webster, past president of the Alberta Association of Architects and a partner of the Calgary architectural firm of Cohos Evamy, said it could put Calgary on the international map.

EnCana's choice of world-renowned architect Norman Foster – the designer of Germany's federal Parliament building in Berlin – bodes well for EnCana's hopes of creating a world-class project, she said.


"It's a great civic urban design opportunity that is remarkable in its promise," Webster said, adding it will also move, "the direction of the downtown core towards the east, and the revitalization of that area."

EnCana's land is located east of Centre Street – the north/south dividing line in Calgary – that commercial developers have so far avoided like the plague.

As a result, the two blocks EnCana is still trying to secure have a disproportionate number of surface parking lots and run-down buildings. Richard White, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, said it is exciting that EnCana sought such a renowned architect for the project.

"This is iconic in nature," White said, adding that of the roughly 10 office towers either under construction in this booming city or on the planning boards, EnCana's project "is the icing on the cake."

In addition to the 10 or so office towers planned or under construction, White said there are another 20 large condominium towers in the works. "It is unbridled optimism," he said of the building boom here that has resulted in a shortage of labour and some construction materials, such as concrete.

Because Calgary is so dependent on oil and gas, it has suffered a number of jarring economic busts and that had White throwing up a cautionary flag.

"These (booms) can't last forever," he warned. "So the question is, 'Are we booming or are we blooming right now?'"

Two aspects of EnCana's push to purchase most of the remaining properties have caused Mayor David Bronconnier to go uncharacteristically mum - the sale of the city-owned police headquarters building and the search for an alternative location for CUPS that it will accept.

Knowledgable sources said CUPS is in a strong bargaining position because it owns its building, which sits in a corner of one of the two blocks that faces out onto the major downtown park in front of City Hall. EnCana wants an uncluttered view of City Hall and Olympic Park, the sources added.

Early in the negotiations, there were some exploratory talks to move CUPS to the downtown Billingsgate Fish Market that sits east and north of City Hall. There were also discussions held with the University of Calgary to move CUPS into its planned campus, which the university hopes to build east of City Hall, and a relatively smaller portion over to the block just north of City Hall.

Meanwhile, the search continues for a good location on which to build a new police headquarters.

Gillian Lawrence, the manager of strategic services for City Hall's Corporate Properties and Buildings department, said everything is in the "exploratory stage."

"As we are still in the investigations, it will probably be another four months or so before we have anything to confirm," she added.

I am so anxious for a design to be released so we can criticize it--he he he he...

Seriously, this is wonderful...I am hoping for something skinny and sleek!

can we have a tower you dont need?

There are numerous surface lots here...I will take Canterra, the first Bankers Hall, and, um...the Nexen Building!

Can't wait;);)

"There are numerous surface lots here...I will take Canterra, the first Bankers Hall, and, um...the Nexen Building!"

what? no discovery pointe?

Nah--Saskatoon can have it :)

"There are numerous surface lots here...I will take Canterra, the first Bankers Hall, and, um...the Nexen Building!"

what? no discovery pointe?

Urghhh... DP.... :puke:

If Saskatoon doesn't want them, we could always send 'em up to Yellowknife.

---------

Man there's been a lot of stuff going on with Encana lately. I can't believe we'll have to wait until spring to get a rendering... *sob*

They should be demolished!

Sorry i dont have the time to read everything but from what i have read it sounds like Calgary is about to get a signature tower here, posibly a national icon. Does anyone have a time frame for when the design should come out? (im sorry if its in the articles but as i said i dont have time to read them) Thankyou in advance. I cant wait!!!

Sorry i dont have the time to read everything but from what i have read it sounds like Calgary is about to get a signature tower here, posibly a national icon. Does anyone have a time frame for when the design should come out? (im sorry if its in the articles but as i said i dont have time to read them) Thankyou in advance. I cant wait!!!

What is expected:

Design: Spring 2006
Start Construction: 2007
Completion: 2010

wow!! I cant wait to see this tower. Im going to be looking forward to it with great inticipation.
I personaly think they should build one 100 floor office tower. If they wanted they could easily have the tallest skyscraper in Canada!

EnCana selects top architectural firm
British company lead designer of city tower
http://working.canada.com/vancouver/rss/story.html?s_id=Fro06%2F0z5HikQDWk56HBDfQux5493%2FhqI089AfjsC3WTDK2U3ju4cg%3D%3D

The lead architect hired for EnCana Corp.'s downtown office tower has designed some of the world's best known buildings, including the British Museum and a London skyscraper known as the Gherkin.

Foster and Partners, led by famed architect Lord Norman Foster, was selected a week ago as the primary architect for a multimillion-dollar downtown office tower project being built by EnCana, Canada's largest oil and gas producer.

"We were looking for people who had done a project of this scale and magnitude in the last decade and they obviously fit that bill," said EnCana spokeswoman Almas Kassam.

"And the unique thing about Foster and Partners is that they have the ability to not just build our building, but to transform the area and expand the downtown.

"They have a reputation to work with the company's brand and to build unique and distinctive buildings."

In a statement released Tuesday, Foster said it would do exactly that in designing the EnCana project.

"We are thrilled to have this opportunity . . . to capture the collective consciousness of Calgary," he said.

"We hope to set a bold precedent for high-quality, environmentally sustainable development of the downtown area while responding to the civic values of the city."

Foster and Partners, formed in 1967, has decades of award-winning designs in its portfolio, including the Swiss Re Headquarters that has become known by Londoners as the Gherkin -- or the pickle.

The firm also designed London's Millennium Bridge, the headquarters of Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt and the Reichstag building in Berlin. It has been hired to work on the new World Trade Center.

Foster himself won the 1999 Pritzker, the world's most prestigious architecture award.

Ald. Druh Farrell, who represents the area where the EnCana project will be built, said it's the first time Calgary has ever seen an architect of Foster's calibre work on a local building.

"This is huge," she said. "It will put Calgary on the architectural map."

EnCana Corp. hasn't revealed the "signature" project's cost, but industry insiders have estimated it at $540 million, including land.

The company has bought two downtown parking lots and the historic York Hotel as the future site of its tower project, which will boast about two million square feet.

Nigel Dancey, a senior partner at Foster and Partners, is in charge of the EnCana project. Dancey said he was looking forward to talking about the design of the building when he meets with Calgary architects in London next week.

"They will help to understand better the issues that have to do with the site and also the possibility for the podium buildings and what may go in them," he said.

The firm will work closely with architects at Calgary-based Zeidler Partnership, one of Canada's largest and most respected architectural companies, which will be responsible for implementing the design concept. Sturgess Page + Steel, another local firm, will work with Foster and Partners to design the public realm.

Jeremy Sturgess, who will be flying to London on Friday to meet Foster and Partners over the following five days, said his job is to pay attention to the street-level design, including the sidewalks and perhaps even a public square.

"If you can trap sun and break the wind, you can make really wonderful space," he said.

In preparation for the design meeting, Sturgess said he's trying to envision great public spaces in other cities -- such as Rockefeller Center in New York -- as models to consider.

The well-known Calgary architect said he's thrilled to work with Foster and his team.

"His firm is a firm that I have the highest regard for," Sturgess said. "Their buildings are very sophisticated technically, environmentally and from a design perspective, they are always very provocative and they are also very sensitive, I think, to their context."

Sturgess added that he nearly fell over when he heard Foster and Partners was selected.

"I thought, 'This is a great day for Calgary . . . Calgary is getting a Foster building,' " he said. "Calgary is doing such remarkable things in the way it's becoming a national leader. This is a physical manifestation of that. . . . It's really time that we have a world-class building."

But will Calgary get its own pickle? No, according to EnCana's spokeswoman.

"That particular building was a reflection of the client's building program and location," Kassam said, "but we don't anticipate our office complex will be anything like that."

cderworiz@theherald.canwest.com

What is expected:

Design: Spring 2006
Start Construction: 2007
Completion: 2010
Thank you for your help! Sounds good cant wait! :cheers:

According to Calgary Architect Peter Bergenor, the main tower will be 63 floors. He said this in an article and I emailed him and he confirmed the number. The Project Manager from EnCana told a real estate conference he attended this height a little while ago.

Its just to bad its not going to be one HUGE tower. That would have been awsome.

Hopefully they stretch this sucker to at least 900 feet!

Doesn't Calgary have a height limit?

^^ no absolute height restrictions, just zoning densities - hence why Encana has bought up nearly the bulk of the adjacent properties as they intend to transfer the height densities to the main project site.

There are a few rumours about a new tallest in Canada, however I've got a real good feeling on a 930' height.

Congratulations Calgary on having a Foster in town!

And to have a local star Sturgess being a partner in the deal, it will be the major Canadian architectural project of the decade!

Exciting stuff. It's about time Calgary got a nice skyscraper or two to put it on the radar screen. Calgary is in the middle of a massive boom and this would let the world know that it is a true global energy player. Even though I'm from Toronto, I wish they would build Canada's tallest in there. Why not? Maybe that will give westerners something to feel proud about and will focus their energy on something postive rather than bashing Toronto for no reason like I've read a couple of times in some of the Calgary threads. I'm not saying everyone does it, but some do. It seems so pointless.

^The average Calgarian does not really care what is going on in Toronto. Every city has its retarded boosters. I live in Ontario - and hear Calgary and Alberta bashing a lot too.

Ya... It goes both ways. Nice try though.

Anyway, when will the rendering be unveild? This sounds promising.

Ya... It goes both ways. Nice try though.

Anyway, when will the rendering be unveild? This sounds promising.

NEVER!!! and if it is then everybody here will get to see it but you muahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)

I really hope they do one tall building. I could see in the past have twins because office space and demand is cyclical and the other could always be cancelled or put on hold.
That, however, will not be an issue with today's Calgary. I also hope it will be a true icon of a building. A real showcase as opposed to just another box that has more floors.

^ I think we are almost guaranteed a big brother/little sister combo.

That said, everything is still speculation at this point.

Lets hope that the EnCana construction will include extending the 8th Avenue LRT tunnel, which already exists under city hall and up to the convention centre. I don't know the details of the tunnel path, but it could also be extended further by the Penny Lane construction.

It won't. It is not on the same alignment down 8th ave. Of course, EnCana is between 5th and 7th.

^^ oops

What is expected:

Design: Spring 2006
Start Construction: 2007
Completion: 2010

any updates? spring 2006 is about to end.

any updates? spring 2006 is about to end.

Preliminary designs are expected to be released in June

they should start something soon, because the future is always uncertain.
(EX BAY-ADELAIDE towers)

plus Calgary's boom in Business, Toronto and Vancouvers residental boom show that the future of Canada is in those three cities.

This is great for Calgary. I hope it is a massive one!

:)

im wishing for over 100 fls. let me dream. :)

http://www.orbit2orbit.com/gmd/graphics/gallery/TuxTower/spiralTower2.jpg

Something like this would be stunning!

TORONTO

^actually I'm rather disturbed by it

might look good in real life , if it were a real building...

http://www.orbit2orbit.com/gmd/graphics/gallery/TuxTower/spiralTower2.jpg

Something like this would be stunning!

TORONTO


Office tower or oversized novelty metal-wrapped condom?

Sir Norman Foster would never do somthing like that to the city of calgary. It would end what has been an exceptional career.

won't the shangrala in Vancouver become the tallest in the west when it goes up?

Not even close. Shangrila is only supposed to be 646 feet (~196.9m). That's about the same as Calgary's Banker's Hall towers at 197m, and then PetroCan is even taller at 215m. Encana should be much, much taller than that.

Shangri-la will be tallest in BC, and the west outside of Calgary.

to bad about vans restrictions, damm, talk about blown opretunity for an truly stunning skyline. if it would have went tall it would have been one of the best settings in the world to do so. to damm bad, as the short towers just dont cut it for me. It would have been somthing els alltogether. It could have been like hong kong.

ah

i thought it was gonna be 65 stories... no idea of the feet

Dont get me wrong, as I feel that van is stunning, none the less; howerver, the towers realy needed to be two, or three times as tall if they are to match the world-beating, backdrop that it has. those shorty condos are simply to small in contrast to the moutains that are so close at hand. the encana will more than likely be the tallest in canada, if not all of North amarica. I say this because of the ego's and cost. i think it will be one super tall with a little sister. or like the one in moscow, a twin that combines to appear as one tower. that moscow tower will be the best scraper ever imo. and if Encana can top that, well it will be truely stunning to say the least.

Nice one.

http://www.shangri-la.com/vancouver/shangri-la/en/images/1_main.jpg
she's still super to me.
http://www.lestwarog.com/shangrila/images/8-s.jpg

http://www.livingshangri-la.com/

sorry , ENCANA thread forgot. :)

Do you guys (from Calgary;)) have issues with the shadows;);).......and this is a serious question;);)

Dont get me wrong, as I feel that van is stunning, none the less; howerver, the towers realy needed to be two, or three times as tall if they are to match the world-beating, backdrop that it has.

No they don't.

Vancouver is stunning period. After Shangri-La, a few taller towers will follow and that's perfect. There is no need for Vancouver to strive to become Hong Kong.

those shorty condos are simply to small in contrast to the moutains that are so close at hand. the encana will more than likely be the tallest in canada, if not all of North amarica.

I pray to god Vancouver never builds something that rivals the mountains.

Canada... maybe. N. America... I don't think so.

or like the one in moscow, a twin that combines to appear as one tower. that moscow tower will be the best scraper ever imo. and if Encana can top that, well it will be truely stunning to say the least.

That tower looks as if klingons came down from their bird of preys and built an enormous structure to glorify themselves. Please, Calgary, never build something like that.

Oh this is just lovely! Another awesome thread that isn't about Vancouver hijacked by a bunch of Vancouver cheerleading trolls who are so damn insecure they turn threads like these into another pissing contest.... :ohno:

And here's Wally again... waiting, ready to jump on whenever someone speaks the name Vancouver. :ohno:







Anyways... The design is being released in the Spring. It's getting aweful close to Summer now and I'm getting anxious....

This thread is about a project in Calgary, is it not? :|

I went to this thread just out of my own curiosity, find the first five pages to be quite informative, and then here we go. Insecure Vancouver trolls hijacking it for no apparent reason than to celebrate a generic tower that just happens to be the tallest for their city, even though there is nothing really spectacular about it. Sheesh!!!! :no:

Honestly, the management of this Canada forum should REALLY crack down on these never ending trolling. Decent discussions such as this thread up to page five is extremely rare...

16 June. Then we will see the plans.

If you went to SSP, you'd have known this since this morning.

This thread is about a project in Calgary, is it not? :|

I went to this thread just out of my own curiosity, find the first five pages to be quite informative, and then here we go. Insecure Vancouver trolls hijacking it for no apparent reason than to celebrate a generic tower that just happens to be the tallest for their city, even though there is nothing really spectacular about it. Sheesh!!!! :no:

Honestly, the management of this Canada forum should REALLY crack down on these never ending trolling. Decent discussions such as this thread up to page five is extremely rare...

Course it's a thread about Calgary, I agree... Shangri-La isn't that special, the thread should've never been hi-jacked (posting pics was definately too far) and you and I didn't start the van talk but we're pretty much just as guilty so... Without further adieu... CALGARY!!!

I didnt mean it as an insult to van, as i think it looks fantastick, but imo it could be much taller. it could have been realy somthing if it were. it is great as is; however, it would have been crazy wonderfull if it didnt have the dammed hight restrictions. im sure even you could agree to that. and now for that foster tower in moscow. you must not have seen this thing, because it is by far the best skyscraper ever conceved. i will post the pics. fast like for you, so then you will know what you are calling down.

sorry d post

sorry everyone :(

The vancouver tower is tall and nice but itbe beat by alot of future Calgary and Toronto buildings.

The vancouver tower is tall and nice but itbe beat by alot of future Calgary and Toronto buildings.

Mandeep.....be carefull;)....you shouldn't mention Toronto in a Calgary thread;);)....some people will take offense to that

Mandeep.....be carefull;)....you shouldn't mention Toronto in a Calgary thread;);)....some people will take offense to that
toronto? TORONTO?. HE HE kidding toronto is great. if you go to camel toa.com toronto is the favorite city there because it has toa in it. bawhahahahha

For what it's worth, there is discussion in SSP saying that there's a good chance Encana won't get built. The info supposedly comes from someone with legitimate contacts in the development arenas. Something about the latest rumours on the inside being that there are more reasons to not build than to build. We'll have to wait and see I guess. June 16 is supposed to be the date to reveal the rendering.

that stinks

For what it's worth, there is discussion in SSP saying that there's a good chance Encana won't get built. The info supposedly comes from someone with legitimate contacts in the development arenas. Something about the latest rumours on the inside being that there are more reasons to not build than to build. We'll have to wait and see I guess. June 16 is supposed to be the date to reveal the rendering.
i wont be believing that. that sort of thing has been said from the start, and each time it was false. all hearsay.

Considering the cost of hiring Foster to design it, and the hype it's produced, it will likely be built. That 'discussion' is based on a rumour someone overheard at workplace. <.<

if anything they, (Encana) will double the budget for the project. lol

Anymore updates???

I have no doubts about EnCana......

the encana will more than likely be the tallest in canada, if not all of North amarica.



Whoa, tallest in NA? I highly doubt that. I could potentially envision a 275m-350m tower in Calgary...but I just couldn't see anything taller than that. I mean, c'mon, Sears is 442m (527m to the antenna).

Anyway, is this pure speculation, or is there any truth/evidence? (sorry if there is, I'm too busy to read the entire preceeding thread).

Wow, a Foster building! Very nice indeed. Congrats to Calgary...you lucky devils!

I'm sure this project will be built. Should be interesting to see the design and the height.

^^^^ yah glass from spain no less. over 2 million sqr ft, and word is that I Oil is planning to out do what ever Encana dose. thats just a rummor though and i just cant see anyone out doing sir norman. oh and the tallest in na thing. let me dream ok.

I Oil is planning to out do what ever Encana dose. thats just a rummor though and i just cant see anyone out doing sir norman.


I don't think Imperial Oil (Canada's branch of Exxon-Mobil) is planning any sort of massive expansion in it's Canadian operations. That would be the only way they build a large office tower.

The company (Exxon-Mobil) is global (and already the largest oil company in the word), as opposed to Encana. Encana is strictly Canadian and somewhat of a newcomer with incredibly rapid growth and lots of new and growing assests to 'play with'. This sort of company is condusive to building a new large tower to house it's growth.

Exxon-Mobil, on the other hand, is already efficiently managed by a combination of other offices (head office in Dallas, TX). Imperial Oil did not require a vast amount of office space in Toronto, I would assume they would need a similar amount in Calgary.

Not saying it won't happen...but if the history of and nature of the company have any say in the mater, it likely won't be anywhere near the size of Encana (especially if they are the anchor tenant).

What does the building like like that Imperial Oil is currently housed?

^ Imperial Oil is currently located in 5 or 6 different towers in Calgary just like Encana, and their leases expire in 2011. They also own a prime lot in the middle of downtown Calgary, and also supposedly have some different architectural firms on hold.

And like Whitefordj said, according to our sources ImpOil is apparently waiting for Encana's official plans to come out until they set their own firms to work.

EDIT: You see, they really only had some of their offices in Toronto. Most of the company was already located in Calgary long before their move.

Latest news on SSP about Encana: Now, we've (us SSP forumers) known for a couple weeks that a possible unveiling date would be June 15 or 16. Something we just remembered is that the Global Petroleum Show (a bi-annual event in Calgary) is coming up. It is possible that Encana will unveil the tower design at this event. We know some people that are going to be at the GPS and will look out for Encana stuff.


Global Petroleum Show 2006
June 13 - 15, 2006
Calgary Stampede Park
Size matters: the world's largest oil and gas event.

Welcome to the world's largest petroleum event! Every two years Global Petroleum Show presents the latest in oil & gas technology, products, services and business strategies for the world-wide energy industry. Join 50,000 visitors from 85 countries to network, develop new business, and share in the Global Petroleum Show experience.

"You see, they really only had some of their offices in Toronto. "

While true, their Toronto office's were spread out between 4 buildings as well

Imperial most likely will consolidate their offices and who knows, maybe under the roof of the tallest in the city but, it won't be anywhere near a Foster (and a big YUCK to those suggesting a Empire knockoff similar to those built throughout America in the EARLY NINETIES )

^^^^ yah glass from spain no less. over 2 million sqr ft, and word is that I Oil is planning to out do what ever Encana dose. thats just a rummor though and i just cant see anyone out doing sir norman. oh and the tallest in na thing. let me dream ok.


I think that all IOL is only interested in is having a tower taller than Encans's. They could not possibly outdo the Foster building afterall the architects IOL is having do design proposals are all local. So far buildings in Calgary done by local architects do not rival a Foster building.

ah

i thought it was gonna be 65 stories... no idea of the feet

When it comes to determining the tallest buildings it is the overall height that counts, not the number of stories. Especially when it is a residential tower vs an office tower.

(and a big YUCK to those suggesting a Empire knockoff similar to those built throughout America in the EARLY NINETIES )

Key Tower is actually a very well done building, and would fit well with Calgarys skyline, as Art Deco is severly underrepresented in their skyline. The NBC Tower in Chicago is another good example of art deco revival.

Key Tower is actually a very well done building, and would fit well with Calgarys skyline, as Art Deco is severly underrepresented in their skyline. The NBC Tower in Chicago is another good example of art deco revival.
ya some of them so called "knock-offs" look real good.

While true, their Toronto office's were spread out between 4 buildings as well



Exaclty why I assumed this would remain a constant in Calgary. However, now that the company has completely concentrated in the oil capital, who knows...rumours are probably accurate that they will consolidate into one large office tower.

I'd love to see Imperial Oil bulid a large tower in Calgary...a height competition with Encana would be fun too.

I really hope that Encana is something a signature building and not just another tall square box.

As a non-Calgarian, how many OFFICE towers are under construction right now, how big, and completion dates.

Yes, Imperial and Encana duking it out for the tallest tower--like the good ol' days!

I really hope that Encana is something a signature building and not just another tall square box.

As a non-Calgarian, how many OFFICE towers are under construction right now, how big, and completion dates.

Check the Calgary Construction Thread at SSP, it's more accurate.

the worthinton thing may be true as well. you remember that 60 and 80 flrs mix use project? well there is more talk of that. I dont know what to think myself on this one. its location would be one block or so from the calgary tower.

As a non-Calgarian, how many OFFICE towers are under construction right now, how big, and completion dates.


not enough, and not soon enough...


Calgary has the potenial to turn into a Dubai. the money is there, but they're just too scared to build them taller. kinda sad really. i would love nothing more then to see like a 110 floor office tower in downtown calgary. hell, the space is there, no one is using the east village up anytime soon...

Any word yet? I can't wait to see the new landmark for our city.

It won't be revealed until later in the summer.

I wouldnt be surprised if it took untill september or October to be truthfull .

Encana delayed the announcement due to the leaked date. they want to create a big spectacle and make it a suprise since it's such a big project, an who can blame them. A half billion dollar invesment deserves some attention and ceremony. I think it will be unveiled sooner then the fall though.

I've heard rumors that the project might be cancled due to costs. If the buidling exedes a half billion dollars, Encana may not take it on. Plus the building was Mr. Morgan's idea, so the new presidnet may be a little resistive to the project.

There hasn't been any offical word on the project, so i'm assuming that its still going ahead, and the plans will be relased sometime in the fall.

-DSO

So what's up with EnCana anyway? I'm sorry but I forgot about it and haven't heard anything. So how is it going, is it approved?

haha no model or render has been released................. sits waiting

this project is annoying and so is ENCANA . sorry Im fed up with this allready .
:tongue:

lol alota people are lol thats why they started the "released the dam thing already" thread on ssp...

I LOVE this skyline shot!
http://www.viewcalgary.com/peter/night/images/downtownW_0954.jpg
Calgary is such a beautiful city! :)
Can't wait till the renderings finally come to fruition. :D

that is a great pic!

So no one knows how tall it will be or how many floors?

..... :gaah:

Ok sorry for pissing you off!

The latest i have heard is that its going to be around 60 floors, but other rumors have it at 70. Oh and i've done a little mroe reading and i now think the project will go ahead. The reason is say this is that encana is buying up more land downtown, and they have dedicated alot to this project already. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will get built.

Ok sorry for pissing you off!

lol , I was not really upset , its just funny is all
http://www.tbcoc.org.nz/im%20sorry%20copy.JPGHere lets all be friends again . LOL








* Rhino has been getting odder and more bazzar the last little while ,
those responsable for him taking his medication would like to send thier most sincere apologies .

^ bursts out laughing and gos back to waiting ..... ....... ................ ......................

The Calgary Herald 8 August 2006

By Kim Guttormson


As the best-guarded secret in town, the new EnCana office tower is cloaked in mystery.

Discussions on the two-million- square-foot complex are always held behind closed doors, with everyone sworn to secrecy, ramping up speculation about what Calgary's newest landmark will look like.

The topic generates excited theories on the Internet at skyscraperpage.com and skyscrapercity.com, with one thread, a year after the project was announced, begging EnCana to "release the damn thing already."

But until the design by world-renowned architect Norman Foster is unveiled sometime this fall, the curious have to be satisfied with this inescapable fact: whatever it looks like, the complex will alter the city's skyline and act as a catalyst for development on the east side of downtown.

"It has created a domino effect before it's even been built," says Ald. Druh Farrell, whose ward includes the downtown. "People are quite excited about the potential for that area.

"And I've never seen such excitement about something no one's really sure what it is."

Interviews with EnCana are prefaced with the understanding no details will be discussed, even whether the project will be completed in one phase or two.

"That hasn't been determined," spokeswoman Almas Kassam said. "When we submit to the city that will all become a lot clearer."

The EnCana tower, rumoured to be the tallest east of Toronto, reaching higher than Petro-Canada Centre's 52 storeys, will become the dominant piece in the evolving downtown's east end. The complex, estimated by industry watchers in 2005 to cost $540 million including land, will straddle the blocks on either side of 6th Avenue S.E. at Centre Street.

Whether the two pieces will be joined above or below ground hasn't been disclosed, of course.

More importantly, it will be the first office development east of Centre Street in more than a decade.

"Historically, Centre Street seemed to be an invisible barrier," says downtown planner Matthias Tita. "This is a message from the private sector.

"It all points towards a rejuvenated east core area."

Kassam said EnCana was pleased to be able to accomplish the project it wants in the core.

"Certainly when we decided to take on a project of this size, it was, 'if you're going to do it, do it right,'" she says, adding the company is striving for a village atmosphere and to be part of the community.

With the EnCana buildings housing the 3,200 Calgary employees of Canada's biggest oil and gas producer, restaurants, convenience stores and other amenities are likely to follow, shifting downtown activity east.

And EnCana is only one of a number of major projects expected to revitalize the area leading into the crime-plagued East Village.

By 2010, the grey stretch running from Centre Street past Macleod Trail will be unrecognizable.

The blocks between 5th and 7th Avenues will house the EnCana building, a new public library and a reimagined Bow Valley College.

Gone will be parking lots anchoring the corners, the bland buildings that now hold books and college students.

The Calgary Board of Education will also be moving from its lot between 1st and 2nd Streets S.E., leaving that site open for redevelopment.

The new library design will be chosen through an international competition next year, the latest in a series of library projects around the world drawing serious interest from architects.

Bow Valley College hopes to begin redesigning its existing building at the corner of 6th Avenue and 2nd Street S.E. next month, including the addition of a three-storey glassed-in atrium on the south side. Its plans go before the Calgary planning commission on Thursday.

Once the provincial court moves to the new super-court complex, likely in 2008, the college will build a second tower on that site, anchored by an atrium on the north side.

"It's going to look radically different," says Bow Valley president Sharon Carry. "It'll be like a lantern when you enter from the east, so beautifully lit in the evening and the morning."

These moves are all signs of a city maturing, a confident city with a million people, says Brian R. Sinclair, dean of environmental design at the University of Calgary.

"A landmark building of any type is very important to cities," he says, adding while EnCana is getting the bulk of today's attention, the library has the potential to be the more defining structure. "There is going to be some very interesting architecture coming out of that corner.

"With this level of confidence, you want to assert a sense of identity."

There was a period when the city more or less accepted whatever design came along, worried the project would go elsewhere, Farrell says.

"Calgary is confident now," she says. "They know that industry and head offices want to be here, they need to be here."

Calgary has often been criticized for its architecture. Vancouver-based architecture critic Trevor Boddy said boomtowns don't like what came before, adding building tends to happen at either the high or low point.

"Usually, good architecture happens in between," he says.

Farrell calls the architecture of public buildings on the east side part of a "bleak period."

The present feeling of confidence has led to a push for higher quality, notes Farrell, who sits on the planning commission.

"We're not afraid to say no. The quality of the design I've been seeing, even in the last six months, is significantly better."

City leaders believe more people on the eastern edge of downtown, whether working, studying or visiting, can only help speed the eventual redevelopment of the East Village.

For more than 20 years, the area has stagnated, and the city's last attempt at redevelopment was halted when a joint venture with developers collapsed.

Now Riverfront Pointe condos are moving ahead at the north end of the site and an educational consortium, including the U of C, Bow Valley, SAIT and Athabasca University, plans a downtown urban campus there.

But for now, its most marked characteristics are the Calgary Drop-In Centre and the so-called crack cul de sac near the Salvation Army.

The anchor for much of this renewed optimism is the EnCana development, by virtue of its size and the high expectations that accompany an award-winning architect with a reputation for innovation.

Part of the site, where the York Hotel now sits, was once before destined to hold Calgary's tallest building -- 10 storeys -- in the early 1900s. But a stagnating economy meant the owner never built his dream "tower" and the site sat empty for 19 years until the York was built in 1929, according to historical consultant Harry Sanders.

Most think the current energy boom isn't anywhere near its end.

Sinclair points out that one of the last structures that was innovative in its time -- the Nova building, now the Nexen tower, on 7th Avenue -- was built at the tail end of the last big boom. EnCana's is coming closer to the start.

"We're beginning to look at buildings and architecture as reflecting value," Sinclair says. "A very powerful piece of architecture can do a lot for the fabric of the core, the perception of what the city's about."

With the architecture of Foster on board, expectations are high, says the city's Tita. His buildings around the world have won awards and are lauded for their sustainable features.

Boddy says it will be important to watch for inclusion of public and community space -- the Glenbow Museum has expressed interest in moving in to EnCana's complex -- and how the buildings fit at the street level.

Some are also concerned about the heritage buildings on the site -- the York, with its art deco exterior, is 77 years old; the Legion next door was completed in 1922.

Bob van Wegen, with the Calgary Heritage Initiative Society, said although it's "not gospel," it's likely at least the facade of the York will stay and the Legion, while not officially part of the building site, will be incorporated into the overall design.

Farrell, who has seen the draft design in London, isn't concerned.

"The beauty of the architecture will dramatically alter the landscape," Farrell says -- careful to not reveal anything more.

"The topic generates excited theories on the Internet at skyscraperpage.com and skyscrapercity.com, with one thread, a year after the project was announced, begging EnCana to "release the damn thing already."


woohooo!!!! we made the news. so when are they gonna unveil it??? i'm dieing already!

There is some extreamly interesting talk of the EnCenter over at SSP. i guess a city planner got to see it already and he describes a bit about it. Now i can't wait.

Its really interesting to here that glenbow is thinking of moving. I think it would be a good move by them.

I don't think this building will be built, I wouldnt hold my breath for it.

^ Wow, u sure picked a good one to be skeptical about... :weird:

Not only is Calgary's office vacancy rate the lowest in the world, but the comapany has bought the land, announced they were building a new HQ, and hired and internationally renowned design firm.

Is there actually something u'r basing this skepticism on?

^ WH is just trolling. Just look at his/her comments in any of the rate our skyscraper threads for Calgary as well as the rate our skyline thread.

this project will b an amazing one.... but is it or isnt it bigger then FCP and if it is will it b bigger then trump? at 310m i beleive will b

I don't think this building will be built, I wouldnt hold my breath for it.

Now is that YOU talking, or Bobby Brown? Lay off the drugs and get your life together b*tch!

I know were all a little frustrated with the delays of the release, but i think i've found a solution. Heres a building i did for a school project, and i decided to post it here. What do you think of it for a substitute untill we get the foster building? (please post comments in that that thread.) http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=364045&page=2

I don't think this building will be built, I wouldnt hold my breath for it.

Ignore Whitney Houston. He is an Australian troll who attacks all Canadian cities because he is extremely insecure and views them as competition.

Well it's september, where are the renderings? I know its only the second of the month but these should have been released a while ago, just to gauge public reaction to them before its too late.


PS are western canada fourms dead or what?

Well it's september, where are the renderings? I know its only the second of the month but these should have been released a while ago, just to gauge public reaction to them before its too late.


PS are western canada fourms dead or what?

it's the second day of September lol.

and no, the western canada forums are not dead....they're on "vacation".

[QUOTE=Dr. Phalange]I don't think Imperial Oil (Canada's branch of Exxon-Mobil) is planning any sort of massive expansion in it's Canadian operations. That would be the only way they build a large office tower.

The company (Exxon-Mobil) is global (and already the largest oil company in the word), as opposed to Encana. Encana is strictly Canadian and somewhat of a newcomer with incredibly rapid growth and lots of new and growing assests to 'play with'. This sort of company is condusive to building a new large tower to house it's growth."

I just want to correct a couple things you've said here Dr. Phalange...
EnCana is not a strictly Canadian company, they have operations in Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chad, Oman, Qatar and the United States, including major offices in Dallas and Colorado.
Although EnCana itself is relatively new, it is the merger between AEC and PanCanadian both of which were around for quite a while, so I suppose the company "EnCana" itself is new but many of the same people continued on from the prior two companies. Also, among the largest holders of oil and gas resource lands onshore North America

Just a quick update, there are rumors that Encana is going to release tommorrow at 10am, please see SSP for more info.

And the western fourms are offically dead. Hopefully this will spark some life back into them.

just the winnipeg forum these days lol

can't wait for the release
more info here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=117738

Today they are releasing the plans - I can guarantee that

I can't beleive no one has posted anything here!? Here's what I have so far:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2448/3505/1600/EnCana%20Tower1.jpg
That is the proposed building, and here is a composite of the skyline after the building has been added: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2448/3505/1600/Skyline1.jpg

Also some info/stats:
Site square footage: 190, 000
Height: 810 feet (247 metres)
Stories: 59
Anticipated Completion: 2010 with final occupancy in 2011

What are everyone's thoughts???

Really nice. I'm jealous.

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/8369/1012thebowskyline500bigyb0.jpg

I hate Foster for throwing these leftovers in a doggy bag at us.

Fuck Foster.

This ugly, derivative monolith has no business dominating the Calagary skyline (which use to be somewhat coherent).

Shame on Encana, shame on Foster (or his seond cousin once removed's daughter's boyfriend).

Let the excuses begin.

http://www.upside-down.ca/sdphotos/encana.jpg

it should of been taller :(

It looks ugly in the skyline, too fat and bloated.

I was hoping for something more sleek; its shape is not appropriate for the skyine! i was also hoping for something just a little taller!

encana is going for interior more then exsterior

i wana see a render of this monster in the skyline from the south...

What ever happened to "tallest in Canada" hmm?

hmm theres always esso..

^^ sorry, if that post makes me come off as an ass

Here's another angle:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2448/3505/1600/Skyline2.jpg

whats with all these north east veiw bah!

The first pic I posted is from the South, unfortunately it isn't of the skyline...I'll keep looking though...

ya thats w i want is a full south skyline shot from the south :P

i love the design!!! but i have to say it does not fit Calgary's skyline at all.

Its ok, but it does seem out of place from those shots. I'm not sure if i like it or not, i'll have to absorb it for a while.

But i agree definitly not Foster's greatest work, by far.

Oh and i think to fix the problem with it looking to stubby is to increase the height to 80-100 stories.

It's a mess.

CALGARY, Oct. 12 /CNW/ - EnCana Corporation (TSX, NYSE: ECA) today filed a development permit application with the City of Calgary for the construction of The Bow, Calgary's newest office tower. EnCana, along with its architectural team led by Foster + Partners, unveiled the design for the spectacular 59-storey glass and steel office high-rise to be built in the heart of downtown Calgary. Configured in the shape of a bow, the 1.7 million square foot tower is a striking creation that provides office occupants an expansive view of the surrounding environment - Rocky Mountains and the Bow River Valley to the west, the Canadian Prairies and Bow River to the east. Located between 5th and 7th Avenues between Centre and 1st Street S.E., the new building design features three interior garden atriums up the west face of the structure.

"We believe our dramatic new office tower will be a premier Calgary workplace, one that will enhance staff recruitment and retention while creating an energetic urban village in our city's core. Our people will enjoy multiple advantages by being housed in a single location along with amenities such as indoor gardens, a public outdoor space, complementary retail businesses and vibrant cultural venues. The innovative design of Foster + Partners will only enhance the EnCana work experience," said Randy Eresman, EnCana's President & Chief Executive Officer.

"Beyond the benefits to the EnCana workplace, we believe The Bow reflects the growing importance of our city and province from a business and cultural perspective. At EnCana, we are proud to play a role in adding exceptional architecture to our city skyline, as well as invigorating the centre of Calgary," Eresman said. The Bow will set a new standard for environmental sustainability among high-rise offices in Canada. For example, the aerodynamic design of the crescent-shaped tower reduces the structure's wind load, thereby reducing the amount of structural material required and the surrounding turbulence. At the same time, the south-southwest orientation makes efficient use of the southern Alberta sun. The energy efficient design, which employs natural light and ventilation, is expected to reduce energy use by about 30 percent, compared to a conventional tower.

"EnCana's building project team has focused on creating a pleasant and efficient workplace that is tailored to support our individual business units. By initiating the design and development, we hope to bring greater certainty to our long-term occupancy costs in a competitive commercial real estate market. While we do not plan to own the building and we have conducted market research into selling it prior to the construction start, we do plan to be The Bow's long-term, principal tenant," said John Brannan, EnCana's building project executive lead.

EnCana hopes to receive development permit approval from the City of Calgary in the spring of 2007, and construction is expected to start shortly thereafter. EnCana plans to start occupying the building in the third quarter of 2010, with final occupancy in 2011. Matthews Southwest of Toronto and Dallas are the lead project developers, managing site acquisition, architectural design, City of Calgary permits, and development planning strategy. Foster + Partners of London, England is the signature architect and Zeidler Partnership of Calgary is the project architect. In addition, EnCana retained Jeremy Sturgess of Calgary's Sturgess Architecture for the master planning of the streetscape and urban design. A project fact sheet is attached to this release and concept drawings of the office complex are posted on EnCana's website, www.encana.com.

The Bow - Summary Fact Sheet

The submitted development permit application includes the following
proposed items:

Project details:
Site:
- Site area: 190,000 square feet
- Retail and cultural space: approximately 200,000 square feet
- Parking: 1,400 stalls on 6 levels of underground parking
- Plus 15 connections: Telus building, Petro-Canada Centre, Hyatt
Regency Calgary and over 6th Avenue between Centre Street and 1st
Street S.E. to connect the north and south blocks
Building:
- Building height: 810 feet (247 metres)
- 1.7 million square feet of rentable space
- 59 stories with 53 office floors including:
- 3 floors with sky gardens
- 2 retail floors with a total of about 30,000 net square feet
- 4 mechanical floors
- A typical office floor has about 32,000 net square feet
- Large meeting rooms
- The current shape of the buildings allows for the vast majority of
offices to have windows.
- The south facing orientation of the buildings on the site provides
ample views west to the mountains and also captures much of the daily
sunshine, which contributes to the sustainable aspects of the
complex.
- The shape and position of the tower also helps deal effectively with
summer and winter wind patterns.
- Garden levels are planned approximately 18 floors apart. These garden
floors are being designed as an indoor park-like environment with
trees, other vegetation and seating. Sky garden floors also contain
all of the main meeting spaces within the building and are serviced
by express elevators.
- Anticipated construction start in summer of 2007
- Expected completion in 2010 with final occupancy in 2011

Key Contractors:
- Matthews Southwest Developments Limited, Toronto, Ontario and Dallas,Texas
- Design Architect: Foster and Partners, London, England
- Project Architect: Zeidler Partnership, Calgary, Alberta
- Master Planner: Sturgess Architecture, Calgary, Alberta
- Landscape Architect: GGN, Seattle, Washington

i'd say go back to the drawing board......it's a huge wall in the middle of downtown.

Foster is just so damn original.

Lime Street Tower.... well under construction in London.

http://www.skyscrapernews.com/images/pics/78WillisBuilding_pic4.jpg

whats with all these north east veiw bah!

I'm guessing, but I assume that because of perspective, that view makes it look waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay taller than all the others, when in fact it is only 7 stories higher than the tallest now.

Right, the height in that rendering is a bit of an illusion. What gets me is the girth of the thing! Like other forumers, I'm just stunned that they would design a building so wide. If I didn't know better, I would guess by the rendering that this building is about 450ft. At 810 the scale is way off; it's going to look like a really bad photoshop attempt when this thing finds its way on to post cards.

This sort of thing would more appropriate to Calgary. Similar to Foster's Ground Zero design.

http://www.upside-down.ca/sdphotos/encanarev.jpg

Elliot - That actually does fit the skyline better then the proposed building...

I think what they are attempting to do is encourage other companies and developers to develop on the East side of Center Street in Calgary, once there are a few more buildings on the East side it will even out the skyline and look a little more appropriate - at least I hope so...

All the more reason that the signature building be "the one"... it will define the skyline for a long time. This Foster is just so derivative and ... wrong. @ a billion, send it back to the drawing board. No-one will complain at Foster & Partners.

to anybody still complaining about the width of this building just stop and think for a sec. The lot that this building is on is not as wide as the renderings would sugest. The building at the width it is shown at simply cannot fit on the lot thats its being built on. Obviouly the person who did the renderings made a booboo. This tower will be much sleeker looking in real life because its width to height ratio wont be near as idiotic looking as in the renderings.

Which begs the question, a billion dollars, a British knight and crappy renderings?

i hope imperial oil builds something better and taller than this because i was expecting something more impressive.maybe a better rendering would change my mind.

Is Imperial Oil a proposal yet, or is all the news that they have is still that rumor that they bought land in downtown?

Imperial just came out with a teaser today suggesting they may build one.

Is Imperial Oil a proposal yet, or is all the news that they have is still that rumor that they bought land in downtown?

That's never been a rumour. They've owned that land for years and it's a known fact.

This sort of thing would more appropriate to Calgary. Similar to Foster's Ground Zero design.

http://www.upside-down.ca/sdphotos/encanarev.jpg

Yeah, I am liking the latter. Email them that and let them know that is what we want instead!

Yeah, I am liking the latter. Email them that and let them know that is what we want instead!

LOL., If only it was that easy.

Dont worry Calgary, this is only the beggining of whats to come. The future of the city looks bright and im pretty sure more companies will join the bandwagon.

LOL., If only it was that easy.

Dont worry Calgary, this is only the beggining of whats to come. The future of the city looks bright and im pretty sure more companies will join the bandwagon.

But... we're not worrying about anything... Most Calgarians seem to like the design, including the vast majority of Calgary forumers on SSP, and have only slight dissapointments about the reduction in height (though anyone who's followed the news shouldn't be surprised). In short, it's everything we've been expecting and will make a fine addition. There's also the added expectation that these renderings are slightly off, with the tower looking a little too wide. As neilio pointed out, and as any Calgarian who's walked the site knows, the building of that width can't physically fit on that site, and the floor plans that were shown in local media reveal that it really won't look much wider than PetroCan, while being 32m taller.

Really, many of the forumers on SSP from around the world (though mainly North America) are impressed with the proposal. Most of the hate really is only coming from Canadian forumers. I can't speak for this forum (as I'm not around here much anymore) but on SSP, every Canadian thread now seems to have some reference to Encana. It looks like jealousy to me...

Well, there's always Imperial to live up to our expectations right?

It's odd that there aren't any high-res pics, well there are some but they are quite absent from skyscraper forums and even the Foster website. Reminds me of how the Cobb designed Goldmam Sachs building in downton NYC has no detailed renders of it's fat round side circulating (no pun intended). This is Foster design after all... usually when one of their projects are unveiled to the public, you get detailed renders add nauseum.

I find I agree more with the skeptical posts here than the optimistic "it will look better once built or high-res rendering are released" stuff I read at SSP.

As is, it is an alright building with a rather oppressive height to width ratio and a rehashed diagrid facade. Closer in quality to Deutche Bank Place in Sydney, Australia than Swiss Re, IMO.

There are high res pics, you have to search for them, but I know they're there.

here are the high resolution images from ENCANA

http://www.encana.com/whoweare/locat...ow-images.html

TORONTO

here is a direct link to the "hi-res" pics - 3 images in a pdf

http://www.encana.com/pdfs/media/building/images.pdf

Heh, those aren't even the hi-res versions... :D

this is canadas best new tower proposal. bar none. i think it will look fantastic; however, i wish it was 400 ft taller and not so wide. nonetheless, it is wonderfull.

nm

"this is canadas best new tower proposal. bar none "

best commercial tower but I'm not sure it is that much better than Foster's Vancouver tower or Liebeskind's Toronto tower

All this talk of Imperial's plans for a tower to respond to EnCana's tower is very similar to The Empire State Building's answer to Chrysler's in New York almost a century ago. A great time to be living in that city. Congrats Calgary!

I dig it , Looks new and bright and clean .
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2448/3505/1600/Skyline2.jpg

"this is canadas best new tower proposal. bar none "

best commercial tower but I'm not sure it is that much better than Foster's Vancouver tower or Liebeskind's Toronto tower

I personally don't like Liebskind's shoehorn.

Zeidler Partnership's website has a fact sheet and a rendering of the interior of the atrium (it's in flash though, so I can't post it here):

http://www.zrpa.com/to/frameset/mainframeset.htm - click on "News" and then "Toronto" or "Calgary".

http://www.zrpa.com/cg/4-news/Encana.pdf

****************

About ‘The Bow’

Signature Architects – Foster and Partners
Project Architects - Zeidler Partnership Architects

The Bow Project was submitted to the City of Calgary for planning approval on Oct. 12,
2006. It is a 59 storey, 2 million sq. ft. office, retail and cultural development arranged by
Matthews Development (Alberta) Ltd. for EnCana Corporation in downtown Calgary. It has
several notable design features that make it one of the most innovative high rise office buildings
in Canada today.

1) Building Orientation to capture and control sunlight energy

The design has oriented the building so that a series of atrium spaces extending the full height of
the south west face will passively harness the sun’s energy in all seasons. During the summer,
the atrium buffer zone facing the southwest will reflect or exhaust excess heat energy before it
reaches occupied offices. In the spring, fall and winter months, the sun’s heat energy will be
absorbed and recycled throughout the building to augment heating requirements for the north and
east faces. Offices facing this buffer area will also have operable windows allowing EnCana staff
to experience a more natural air flow and temperature environment in their individual work
spaces.

2) Energy efficient under floor air delivery system

Conditioned air will be delivered from the floor surface rather than the ceiling produce a far more
responsive and efficient air quality control. The ‘displacement air system’ is combined with a
ceiling return air system and is a significant factor in targeting a LEED Gold standard for the
building. This is one of the tallest buildings in Canada to utilize this type of air delivery system.

3) Curved ‘Bow’ Shape

The building shape significantly reduces wind resistance, ‘down draft’ and the urban canyon
venturi effect. Computer simulations have shown that the curved surface design of the Bow,
allows the building to have large, publicly accessible walking and landscape surfaces with seating
areas at grade in a comfortable environment. The low profile of the southern retail/cultural block
allows sunlight to bathe the plaza at mid day even during the winter months.
The curved bowed floor maximizes the building perimeter for exterior cellular offices. This is a
direct improvement over much of the typical Calgary office environment where traditional building
designs have a large number of interior windowless offices.

4) Efficient exterior ‘Diagrid’ Structural System.

The exterior ‘diagrid’ is a diagonal and vertical steel frame that significantly reduces the overall
steel weight while producing a robust structure and reducing the number and size of any interior
columns and thickness of the elevator shaft walls. The Canadian structural engineering firm of
Halcrow-Yolles, is responsible for developing this efficient structural design.

5) Sky Garden System

Express elevators take users to mid and high rise landscaped sky lobbies where they have
access to common services such as photocopying and coffee services. This design allows local
elevator banks serving individual floors to stack within the same shaft space of the core. The
result is an exceptionally efficient elevator core design occupying a minimum of floor space while
reducing elevator wait times and matching overall trip time in a conventional office building.

6) Dramatic visually connected +15 walking experience

The broad curving +15 connections are a bold and imaginative way of implementing the
connections between buildings to the north, west and south in a way that enhances the walking
experience. They are configured in a sweeping path around the large plaza fronting on Centre
Street and 6th Ave. to connect office, retail and cultural destinations. The clean glass design will
render the +15 walk a visually exciting event by allowing users to see they are going and to view
the activity on the plaza below. There are few places in Calgary where the +15 system has been
designed to maximize this opportunity.

7) Improved Streetscape from Integrated Below Grade Master Plan

The Bow Complex is surrounded on all sides by primary transit or vehicular access routes for
downtown Calgary as well as many historical buildings. This presents a challenge on how to
provide proper access to the buildings without sacrificing the pedestrian environment. The office,
retail, cultural and a potential future phase program requirements will result in one of the largest
below grade parking, truck and waste handling facilities in the city core with approximately 1400
vehicles for public parking and office employees and a large shipping receiving area under 6th
Ave.

In developing the restoration program for the York Hotel façade the pedestrian environment will
be enhanced by a widened walking service and arcade. A renovation of the former St. Regis
Hotel into a boutique hotel will include connections at +15 and to the below grade parking garage.

Summary

The overall result has been an office design with sensitivity to detail and an improved work
environment more commonly found in European buildings. The Bow is truly a ‘modern’ office
building design where form follows function in an elegant resolution of the many challenges facing
a major high rise office building. It is quantum leap forward for North American office building
design.

The Zeidler Partnership are the Canadian Architects engaged to work with Foster and Partners in
developing the final design of the Bow, coordinating the work of dozens of engineers and to
develop the thousands of construction documents and specifications required to build the project.
Following this, Zeidler will have many full time staff, resident on site, overseeing the work of the
numerous trades and the general contractor who will build the project. From the outset of design,
in December of 2005, members of the Zeidler team have participated in all concept development
meetings and form an integral part of the design team. With these primary responsibilities under
the Architect’s Act of Alberta, the Zeidler Partnership becomes the Architect of Record.

I'm looking forward to seeing this building part of Calgary's skyline. It really needs a new building to stand out so people passing through to either the mountains or going out east will say Wow!

I would rather see this....

http://www.viviun.com/data/properties/images/39454-82490-1D68U22MLM.jpg??050358

I second the motion . PEG please contact Encanna let them know the idea has changed.

I emailed them so many times with photos of different towers...I am only one man!

http://www.downtowncalgary.com/img/photo_gallery/hotspots_gallery1/hires/hotSpots_hires_23.jpg

Wow this pic reminds me of North York. We have the proctor and gamble building, the Xerox building, the Sheppard Center building... and a few more.

that is by far the BEST PIC of Calgary Ive ever seen.

looking south on Center st heading downtown, i live not too far from there

Looking down Centre Street in a few years....
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/5940/centrestreetbh3.jpg

Great job! Looks good! Should it be a little taller?

holy shit....

nice rendering, should be a bit taller, but hell looks good to me

I don't think it should be much taller, it's 59 floors and 32 metres above Petro-Can across the street. I really really hope it is taller though.

really kick ass work !

^ wowow. from there, the building looks great!

I don't think it should be much taller, it's 59 floors and 32 metres above Petro-Can across the street. I really really hope it is taller though.

it will look much taller from that angle; however, that is a very nice render. the bow will dwarf the pc centers.

Who is from Calgary? I'd like to talk about this project, maybe work together on renderings. I currently go to SAIT for Architectural Technologies.

Who is from Calgary? I'd like to talk about this project, maybe work together on renderings. I currently go to SAIT for Architectural Technologies.

if you are realy interested in this subject you should become a skyscraperpage member. the calgary members over there are die-hard skyscraper fanatics. they know all about every thing calgary. just read the calgary construction page over there and you will know what is going on regarding any type of major constrution in calgary. i think they may be just what your looking for.

I always have a problem with that website. I tried to register but it always tells me the server is too busy, I tried to email the website moderators but they never got back to me. I'm all alone:ohno:

New images...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/development/bowview.jpg
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/7263/bowinsideru2.jpg
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/5303/bowaerialwd5.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/397275244_7f7321b727_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/166/397275249_a1cde5d420_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/181/397280322_dfc05af7ee_o.jpg

Where do you get these renderings and models DFresh?

The renderings I make, but the EnCana models came from SSP. Someone took a picture of the dp I believe at City Hall.

could someone do me a favor. Im a little confused over this and maybe a Calgary member can straten this out. Is there another project beeing built in calgary called the BOW? I think there is , and could you possably place a pic of Encana and the Bow next to each other , They in My mind look very similar .