Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/755184
DECEMBER 2016 | 39 Architectural Woodwork One of Continental's newer noteworthy projects was providing all of the solid surface wood panelling and other components for the restoration of the six-storey historic Wellington Building across from Parliament Hill in Ottawa; and the com- pany is currently working through over $7 million of backlogged work. If Donald has a complaint about the state of his trade, it's that "the deadlines seem to come all at once, with little if any chance of staggering the work. This is nobody's fault, it's just the way business is in 2016. However, we've found that one way to cope with this is to subcontract various portions of a job to people we can trust to pro- vide quality results. This doesn't mean we're becoming brokers by any means – it's simply a matter of managing operations efficiently." If there's a unifying pattern to the more prominent woodworking companies, it's that they have developed an operational formula to compensate for the trade's economic shortcomings: for Top 40, it's diversification; for Towne Millwork Ltd., it's adhering to rigorous work schedules in order to meet the logistically daunting needs of clients. One noteworthy U.S. project Towne was involved in this year was the San Diego Central Courthouse. Levi Hesketh, senior estimator for Towne, says, "The project consisted of 71 courtrooms as well as common area millwork. The scope was all of the judges, jury and spectator walls, benches and desk, decorative ceiling to floor fins, solid wood benches, bailiff, recorder and witness desks. The predominant wood was Quarter Cut Cherry veneer and Solid Cherry on shop fabricated steel stud and HSS die walls. "The sheer volume of this project was certainly a challenge for all of us and took up a big chunk of real estate in our shop, with anywhere from three to four full-size courtrooms being pre-assembled at any given time over a five month period. This is another project in which our people, the shop guys and girls in particular, really stepped up and kept pumping out two or three courtrooms every few days to keep the trailers leaving the shipping bay on time. It was very impressive." Another project Hesketh is proud to have worked on is the Telus Garden – Telus office tenant improvement project. "The project consisted of eight floors of custom architectural millwork from plastic laminate and wood veneer casework, custom sequenced wood veneer wall panelling, CNC cut 3D MDF graphic panels, reception desks, wood 'petal' ceilings and a helix-shaped wood veneer feature staircase. The level of skill and dedication it took to pull off some of these features is just phenom- enal," explains Hesketh. Last but hardly least, complementing the woodworking sector is the steady stream of new hardware solutions. Case in point is the LOOX 12 V Compatible Sound System 105, available from Häfele Canada Inc. and an ideal adjunct for any home with extensive woodwork as it provides excellent sound quality that is con- cealed in furniture. The system consists of a bluetooth receiver and an integrated exciter speaker (sound transducer); both are installed within a compact housing that causes different surfaces to vibrate, transforming every piece of furniture into a speaker. Ease of use is also one of the key objectives of products provided by Blum Canada Limited, a prime example being the electric support system known as Servo-Drive for both kitchen wall cabinets and base units. With this mechanism, users can stop pullouts and wall cabinets in any position and set them in motion again when they want to; and in the event of power failure, the fittings are still fully functional. A PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY TOWNE MILLWORK LTD. Helix-shaped wood veneer feature staircase at the Telus Garden. 547 Clarke Road, London, Ontario N5V 2E1 Tel: 519-455-3830 Fax: 519-455-9993 www.continentalcabinet.com photo: Dave Sandford • 180 Wellington Building Renovation, Ottawa, Ontario • Woodstock General Hospital – Woodstock, Ontario • Meno Ya Win Health Centre – Sioux Lookout, Ontario • Sault Area Hospital – Sault Saint Marie, Ontario • L.H.S.C. Victoria Hospital Milestone II – London, Ontario • Henderson Hospital Redevelopment – Hamilton, Ontario • Blue Jays Clubhouse Renovations – Toronto, Ontario • William Osler Health Centre – Brampton, Ontario • Royal Conservatory of Music – Toronto, Ontario • Roy Thompson Hall Auditorium Enhancement Program – Toronto, Ontario • Waterloo Regional Consolidated Courthouse – Waterloo, Ontario • St. Thomas and London Mental Health Facilities – Various locations, Ontario • St. Thomas Consolidated Courthouse – St. Thomas, Ontario For all your millwork needs SOME OF OuR PROJECTS Continental Cabinet.indd 1 16-05-25 11:49 AM