EDMONTON - The hole has been dug and the initial concrete poured.

Now, workers are assembling the steel beams that will form the skeleton for Rogers Place.

“It is our most exciting phase of construction to date,” said Mike Staines, construction manager for contractor PCL.

“The building has started to extend above ground level and throughout the next year, the changes will be phenomenal to those outside. You’ll start to see the various levels and the exciting architecture of the building to take shape.”

On Tuesday, representatives from the City of Edmonton, the Edmonton Arena Corp., and construction contractor PCL briefed journalists on the progress of construction six months into the two-and-a-half year project.

“Until now, we’ve had to rely on renderings to express the vision for Rogers Place,” Bob Black, executive vice-president of Edmonton Arena Corp.

“Today, you can see the foundation for several features of the structure which will make it so special.”

Just south of 104th Avenue, the footings for the Winter Garden, the large covered arena entrance that will span the avenue, are in place. The outer shape of the arena is now clearly visible.

“It will be the only arena in North America with no back door,” Black said. “It will not turn its back on any of its neighbours.”

Over the past six months, workers have completed site excavation and installed about 700 piles for Rogers Place, the community rink and the Winter Garden.

They have erected 314 concrete columns to hold up the arena’s event-level slab.

The current phase of construction, structural steel erection started on Sept. 22 and will take about a year to complete.

The Deal on Rogers Place Steel

Amount of structural steel: 15,390 pieces weighing 9,000 tonnes, enough to reach Red Deer if laid end-to-end.

Structural Engineer: Thornton-Tomasetti, Dialog

Structural Steel Contractor: Structal — Heavy Steel Construction

Origins: The steel for Rogers Place comes from St. Gedeon, Que.; Winter Garden steel comes from Hamilton, Ont.; Community Rink steel comes from Edmonton; while roof joists and decking steel comes from Calgary.

Transport: Most pieces shipped by rail while large pieces that don’t fit in rail containers are trucked in.

When shipping containers arrive in Edmonton, they are off-loaded and stored in a staging yard until needed on-site.

bmah@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/mahspace