Youth Supportive Housing Project Making Steady Progress
Ball is happy to report that construction of a new supportive housing building for homeless youth is well underway at Sheldon Avenue North, in Kitchener. This 44-unit, four-storey building for youth ages 12-25 will help eliminate youth homelessness in Waterloo Region.
One Roof Youth Services is expanding its campus at 35 Sheldon Avenue North through the purchase of a neighbouring home and construction of its own supportive housing building. With help from a philanthropic donor and the City of Kitchener, the organization was able to purchase the adjacent property at number 43. The new supportive housing building will be at 39 Sheldon Avenue North, spanning the backyards of the two existing buildings.
Acting as construction managers, we began work on the 20,000 square-foot structure in June 2021. The targeted completion date of March 2022 is stringent given the scope of this $6.6 million project. A very tight schedule is in place due to funding timelines from the provincial government that have to be met.
Ball was approached as a respected local contractor with the skills and resources available to work with the design team and meet the tight project timelines.
To expedite the work, Ball acted as a design-assist partner with John MacDonald Architects and the mechanical and engineering trades.
We are utilizing precast hollow core planks and a pre-engineered exterior envelope system to speed up construction. The foundations are complete, the first level of precast is installed and roof construction is targeted to begin in early December.
The new structure is being built behind two currently occupied buildings. Keeping pedestrians off the construction site without impeding daily operations requires ongoing diligence on our part. Ball is working closely with the owner to schedule the work, ensuring there are minimal interruptions.
The owners are very pleased with our progress.
