Hoe-ram. That’s a noun. It’s a huge piece of extremely noisy construction equipment. And there are two of them outside my office. They’ve been there for…a long time. And they make this sound: da-da-da-da-da-da-da. But REALLY loud. The pounding is actually causing things to shake in our office.
Hoe-rams pound rock into pieces so it can be carried away in dump trucks. Kingston is, rather romantically, also known as the Limestone City. There’s a lot of rock here. That’s why we need two hoe-rams. If we didn’t have two hoe-rams on the job, the Queen’s Centre would never meet the construction deadline.
Did you check out the link? No? Go back & do it. It’s absolutely worth a look. At $230-million, the Queen’s Centre is the largest capital building project ever undertaken by Queen’s or any Canadian university. Phase 1, slated for completion in 2009 includes more than half of the facilities planned for the three-phase project. These include the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, a competition gymnasium (providing seating for 2,000), two practice gymnasiums, fitness facilities (2392 square meters—Holy cow ! That’s big!!), swimming pool, locker rooms, underground parking facilities, loading dock and new student space and food facilities, representing a total area of about 48,000 square metres.
And you know what? Even though we’re building a new pool, the old pool is still there and will be until the new one opens—same goes for the fitness facilities and gyms. It’s all part of the master plan….
So, you know what else? I can live with the da-da-da-da-da-da all day long because what’s coming is absolutely worth it. I’m going to post pictures so you can watch the progress over the summer.
And by the way? The hoe-rams should be gone by the time you get here in September. And the explosion should have taken place by then, too. But that’s a post for another day….
Kellie McGlade – Communications Manager
