Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World – Tsawwassen reels in awards

Three contractors have won 2018 Silver Awards of Excellence from the Vancouver Regional Construction Association (VRCA) for their part in the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World — Tsawwassen project.

The winners are Ledcor Construction Limited, in the General Contractors — Tenant Improvement category; CentiMark Ltd. (Trade Contractors — Up to $1 Million [Chairman’s Trade Award]); and Rufus Enterprises Ltd.(Trade Contractors — $1-$3 million [President’s Trade Award]).

Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World is a 148,000-square foot sports and outdoor store in the Tsawwassen Mills shopping mall in Delta, a Vancouver suburb.

The store offers gear for such activities as fishing, hunting, camping, boating, hiking and backpacking.

An anchor tenant of the huge mall, the store is prominently located near the heavily-travelled Highway 17, which connects the Tsawwassen BC Ferries terminal with the rest of the Lower Mainland.

Ledcor Construction Limited provided general contracting services for the project, which took place over nine months (February-October) in 2016.

“This was one of the largest tenant improvement projects at the Tsawwassen Mall,” said Ian Summers, Ledcor’s manager of the special projects group during construction.

Much of Ledcor’s work involved coordinating the different trades and materials supplied by the owner.

“Most of the finishes, including the art work, faux painting, lighting, animal artifacts and building materials were provided by the owner,” said Summers. “The Ledcor team coordinated the deliveries and stored the materials, and scheduled the activities of the different artists and trades working on-site.”

Handling the logistics of the massive amounts of materials supplied by the owner was a challenge.

“Ledcor had 15 storage containers located on site to store all the materials,” said Summers. “We had to keep track of what was in each container and be able to access the materials when construction required.”

One month before the store was to open, Ledcor had an unpleasant surprise.

“The sanitation lines were broken — no water was flowing,” said Summers. “The Ledcor team, during final merchandizing of the store, had to break open the concrete slab, and remove seven feet of fill to replace the broken pipes. Fortunately, work was completed without any delay to the store opening.”

One of the many eye-catching features of the store is its steel stud framed and drywall arched barrel ceiling. The ceiling is 250 feet long, 40 feet wide, 36 feet off the ground, and painted to look like the sky.

The custom concrete flooring, created by CentiMark Ltd., is also unusual.

Polished and tinted with dyes of different colours, the multi-coloured finish helps distinguish the different areas of the store from one another.

CentiMark used a variety of colours: Saddle Brown, Terra Cotta, Midnight Black, Turquoise and Patriot Blue.

The project, which took place between April and September 2016, was challenging, says CentiMark project manager TJ Weidema.

“The concrete had been exposed to the elements, traffic and chemicals, all of which affected the polishing and dying process,” said Weidema. “Different colour dyes had to blend seamlessly.”

As the floors are polished, each colour is sprayed on separately. The resulting colour job looks like a rock surface in the retail store and water in the restaurant.

Matching CentiMark’s proposal with the customer’s expectation was challenging, says Weidema.

“You never know what picture the customer has in his mind,” he said.

Rufus Enterprises provided the custom steel stud and drywall.

The main barrel ceiling with bulleted ends is believed to be the largest ceiling of its kind in North America.

The project also included two matching wave ceilings over the bowling alley and bar area.

“What helped us get the project was that, because I’ve been in the business for years, I knew exactly what was needed and how to do it,” said Rufus’s owner Greg Rodgerson.

The most challenging part of the part of the project was the tight scheduling, he says.

“I had to be on-site full-time to make sure the job was done right,” he said.

Rufus’s part of the project was completed ahead of time, “and everything was done as it needed to be done.”

“I was really happy to have had the opportunity to have worked on the project,” said Rodgerson. “It has some very impressive finishing.”