All eyes are on Mark O’Hanley (metals foreman) and his crew on this assignment, likely the most prominent and visible construction site in the downtown core of Victoria, BC. Mark and his crew first visited this landmark site in the fall of 2015 to replace the steep slope roof at the west side of the church. They have returned to finish the job. Mark may have the title of CNHS-SRRS (“Canadian National Historic Site – Steep Roof Replacement Specialist”) added to his name as he has been assigned these types of projects in the past.
Left to right: Darcie Stewart, Nik Pirtikoski, Mark O’Hanley (metals foreman), Brenden Manahan, Wahib Othman (roofing foreman) and Rey Garcia.
Missing: Hazel Tomaney, Ross MacKay, Eric Smirnjak, Dean Craggs, and Jessie Roberts.
History
This iconic church in the heart of downtown Victoria was built in 1889. There are reportedly 1,000,000 red clay bricks incorporated into the build, many of these may have originated as ballast in the holds of the early sailing ships arriving in the west coast.
The massive timbers in the roof are accompanied by iron tension rods, the precursor to reinforced concrete post-tensioned suspended slab construction. This detail allows for great spans of overhead structural members, minimizing the requirement for underlying support columns, particularly advantageous in the Nave, Presbytery, Alter and Sanctuary of the cathedral.
Several prominent British Columbia pioneers were members of the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church congregation. One, a Robert Burns McMicking, introduced the telephone to Victoria with the creation of the Victoria and Esquimalt Telephone Company, the third city in Canada to have telephone service. In 1890, the year of his start-up, there were 36 customers. How times have changed! McMicking previously introduced electricity to Victoria, starting with three outdoor lamps in the downtown core, making Victoria one of the earliest communities to have electricity and the first in Canada to have commercially available electric lights. In 1886, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church became the second church in all of North America to boast electric lights.
Safety first!
As is often the case in our line of work, fall protection was particularly challenging on this project. The steep slopes and period architecture paired with the height of the structure complicated our team / self-rescue capabilities. As such, the City of Victoria fire department was called upon to satisfy the completion of our “rescue of a fallen worker” component of our fall protection planning responsibilities. The fire department rescue crew (twelve members and two trucks) visited the site early on to evaluate their rescue procedures. Their rescue equipment was deployed and was found to be effective in reaching all areas of concern.
