Sew Daphne: Going to the Top of Vancouver House

As soon as I had secured a real date to go to the top of this building I knew I would have to do a blog entry about it.

But where to start? I've been following this project for 5 years & have 2000 [nearly] photos.

I've been walking around the neighborhood taking pictures & talking with people. I do so enjoy the role of the sweet-&-smart-elder-woman-who's-curious-about-stuff-&-who-isn't-too-shy-to-sidle-up-to-people-&-start-a-conversation.

There's also something pleasurable about having an avenue into what has traditionally been a man's arena. I had that when I studied math, I had that with The Imagination Market, & I have it again now.

I met Steve Cameron who is Icon's senior concrete manager. He was another person I found & talked with.

He told me to get out on the bridge on March 19th 2016 to see the biggest concrete pour in Vancouver's history. Cool, I got out there! He also offered to take me up the building at some time. A seed was planted.

On that day of the Big Pour all The Biggies were there.

A few weeks ago I was out doing a look around & found lots was happening on Howe Street. The red crane was having more sections removed & there was a huge street crane there to yard it out of place & off the site.

You can see a crane section on the right on a flatbed truck. The street crane can lift lots-of-pounds = 270 tons.

It was then as I walked up the street that I sidled up to Michael Clarke to talk about the deconstruction of the crane. Somehow in the conversation I mentioned I had talked with Steve Cameron & how he had offered me a trip to the top when it was finished.

"Oh, I can arrange that for you," he said. "When would you like to go up?" I asked him for his Icon card, I gave him mine. It turns out I had sidled up to the head of the whole Icon operation. He is one of the biggest Biggies!

The next week I sent him some availabilities & he returned with a Tuesday 3:30 pm after the work shift if over. Of course! I couldn't go up there when the workers were there.

November 20 an hour before the appointed hour, I went out to look around. Everything was progressing. More red crane sections stored on the 601 Beach Crescent lot, men sorting construction waste into bins. I was thrilled to get a shot of a gull on the Erasmus [riding backwards on his horse] weather vane reflected in the Vancouver House windows!

Taking a deep breath I walked into the Icon office, down stairs, through rough concrete corridors, everything unfinished. The receptionist greeted me, Michael Clarke had found a Health & Safety point man, Stephen, to show me around & I could wait in a room. My camera was already out & I got busy with it. There were desks, photo walls, boots, hardhats, to do lists, etc. The intensity, complexity & ingenuity of such a large project was very clear.

I met Steve, my guide.

He gave me vest, hard hat & steel-toed Wellington boots. They were really clumsy for me to walk in. We went up the hoist 52 floors to the very top.

On the way I told Steve that I was at risk for falling & I would have to be very careful. Without skipping a beat he said I could take his hand whenever I needed it. And I did. The "floor" everywhere was full of traps, unevennesses, & obstacles.

Steve had been a concrete form carpenter & eventually took extra training to do health & safety for the whole site.

My first view from the top looking south.

Then from closer to the railing, Granville Island & the cement factory.

& English Bay

Looking north on Richards

View of King's Landing, where I live. I called George, my husband. He said he could see me (I waved my hard hat at him), but I couldn't see him. Our apartment is opposite the toddler playground of darker & further east bark mulch.

Then there are the photos of the mess of construction.

This rail system is for the exterior window washers to anchor onto.

There was lots of clutter & it's clear why I had trouble navigating. Steve, my guide, said men fall all the time up here! Yikes!

Steve & I went by hoist to the 8th floor into the first of the triangular buildings built at the base of Vancouver House.

Here are some signs in the hoist.

The star of the hoist was the man who operated it. He was so polite in a most European way. I told him that his mother had raised him very well, that he was gracious enough to be an elevator man in the best hotel in the world. Every time I got on & off the hoist, "Here you are, Madame, watch your step, Madame." I was charmed. And I was disappointed I didn't get a better photo & remember his name.