Massive pour lays foundation for Kelowna tower

Kelowna Ready Mix recently completed its largest concrete pour ever with 2,600 cubic metres for a tower in Kelowna.

The pour, which took roughly 12 hours, used around 260 truckloads-worth of material to create the foundations for the city’s new 24-storey Landmark 7 tower. When complete, the tower will be the tallest class-A office building between Calgary and Vancouver.

The process began several days before the pour with inspection maintenance work at the plants supplying material to ensure they were working properly and there wouldn’t be any critical failures that could jeopardize the job.

“A risk of breakdown could be catastrophic in the middle of big pour,” said Dean Neufeld, head of operations for the company.

Starting at 3 a.m. to avoid traffic, the team had 35 trucks begin loading at three Kelowna Ready Mix plants and heading out to start the 4 a.m. pour. The team also had to ensure not to use all its material so its silos could still supply crews doing other work the following day.

Several sales employees for the company helped control truck traffic on the site so vehicles were in the proper place when needed. Neufeld said the traffic was unusually light and there were no disruptions.

“I don’t know how you could have a pour go better, everything clicked,” he said.

Neufeld was especially proud that the family company, which was purchased by his father in 1976, was able to supply the entire pour themselves. Several employees even postponed vacation plans to be there for the pour.

“This is a big accomplishment for us,” he said. “It was the biggest day we have every done. It is a new kind of building for this area and we were able to pour all the concrete ourselves.”

Three generations of Neufeld’s family work at the company, including his father, brother, son and daughter.

The 258,000 square-foot Landmark 7 tower, the newest part of Kelowna’s Landmark District, is being developed by Stober Construction. The tower will include a public outdoor plaza that will connect to District Market and the pedestrian overpass spanning Highway 97 to Parkinson Recreation Centre.