This email was recieved today from Mike Bucci.

June 21, 2013 -10:10 MST

Hi Shane,

I was in Calgary yesterday to attend VEN’s presentation at Calgary Planning Commission and saw the flooding first hand. It truly is a disaster. I’ve spent the morning talking to our people in Calgary and can provide an update as follows:

NEXT>: No problems. Being located high up on free draining soil NEXT has yet to even see water in the sumps.

Tribeca: As of this morning, P2 remains dry. Water is present in the sump but still 2’ below the slab on grade. Our neighbouring sites to the south and to the west have considerably deeper parkades and we believe they are picking up the bulk of the rising water. This was the first real test of the damp-proofing system and we are content that it worked as designed.

VEN: We cannot get into Sunnyside this morning but as of 4:30pm yesterday, the site was dry. Regardless, this event reaffirms our decision to go with the ‘cut-off’ wall design for the excavation. Without getting too technical, we decided to oversize the excavation and drive the shoring walls down deep into the underlying bedrock. This will create a partial dam, or a ‘cut-off wall’, surrounding the site and allow subsurface waters to flow around the parkade. We should also mention that all our developments have the ground floors raised 1 to 2 feet above street level.

So although all our development sites in Calgary have withstood the flooding we should still brace for some impacts; mostly to schedule. I understand the Lafarge concrete plant to be completely underwater with no estimates yet on overall damages. Also, our subtrades and heavy equipment may be required elsewhere in the city for emergency repairs. I’ll keep you updated as we learn more.

We are very grateful to Chandos for going above and beyond expectations monitoring and protecting Tribeca during this crisis. We are also very grateful to the Calgary Planning Commission who, as the city was being evacuated, ensured that enough members remained to hear our presentation and approve the Development Permit for VEN. Their service and professionalism is truly exceptional.

Thanks,

Mike Bucci
Vice-President, Development
Bucci Developments Limited