April 15, 2010

HUNTSMAN MARINE SCIENCE CENTRE

The Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews, N.B., a 12,000 square-foot wood frame structure, was knocked down with an excavator.

FOCUS | Demolition & environmental engineering

Demolition of Huntsman Marine Science Centre required delicate moves

PETER KENTER

correspondent

Excavators took down the venerable Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews, N.B. last month in the wake of plans to erect a new facility and public aquarium on the site.

The facility acts as a public tourist attraction, research centre and education centre. The idea for the non-profit centre was conceived as the Huntsman Marine Laboratory in 1969, and named after distinguished Canadian marine biologist Dr. A.G. Huntsman, who established Canada’s first marine science laboratory in St. Andrews.

The public aquarium features only local Atlantic marine life native to the Bay of Fundy area, including lobsters, sturgeon and a pair of popular harbour seals named Loki and Snorkel. Each summer, the centre plays host to about 20,000 visitors, while each winter marine citizens on display are moved off-site to a temporary location. But the original structure was built in 1970 and the public aquarium in 1972, and the needs of the centre had outgrown the facility.

“It was a wooden frame building of about 12,000 square feet that had seen several additions since it was built,” says Pat Fitzgerald, operations manager with the centre.

“It was made up of a lot of two-by-fours and two-by-sixes. They’d done a good job over the years tying it all together. But before the demolition, we had a little homework to do. First, we removed all of the animals, and the tanks that were small enough to go out the main door. We then took the large marine mammals, such as the seals, to a temporary facility in Shippington.”

In the final step before the facility could be dismantled, crews removed a number of larger aquariums, tanks and exhibition materials to be used in a temporary aquarium that would maintain continuity for patrons while the new facility is under construction.

“Demolition crews knocked down all of the walls surrounding the tanks designated for re-use,” says Fitzgerald. “We roped slings around the tanks and then, in co-ordination with the demolition contractor, lifted them out by crane as we removed roof or wall sections. Some of the tanks were up to eight metres in diameter and will be used for the temporary sturgeon exhibit.”

Electrical panels, transformers, windows and aluminum doors were also salvaged for re-use.

After the salvaging of display tanks and parts of the building, two machines attacked from opposite ends, taking the building down like matchsticks.

J. Smith Excavation of Pocologan, N.B. handled the demolition contract using a Kobelco hydraulic excavator and a Kubota unit. After the salvage operation, the two units attacked the complex from opposite ends, taking it down like matchsticks.

Fitzgerald says that the demolition project took about four days.

“A lot of people have passed through those doors in 40 years,” he says. “The old building had quite a bit of what we might call ‘character’ and some people were sorry to see it go, but I think those sentiments lasted about 2.2 milliseconds in light of the plans for the new facility. For those people who have been coming here for decades without missing a beat, the temporary facility will be open this summer for them and will feature all of the favourite exhibits starting on May 22.”

Construction will soon begin on a 20,000-square-foot, two-storey, year-round facility that will feature an aquarium, touch pool, 220-seat teaching theatre, classrooms, laboratory and gift shop.

The new facility was designed by Comeau MacKenzie Architecture of Saint John, NB in close collaboration with boutique aquarium designer Bobby Poole of Peter Chermayeff LLC in Boston, MA.

“This will be an icon-grade building, with a spectacular live display, including a nine-metre tall vertical cylinder that will represent the full tidal range of the Bay of Fundy,” says architect Peter MacKenzie. “At some point they will be looking to suspend in that space either an actual or replicated whale skeleton, representing the population of whales who stop here at the northern end of their migration.”

The facility will also feature space for education programs for high school and university students.

The project budget is estimated at $8 million. Federal and provincial governments have each pledged $2.5 million to the renewal project, while The Huntsman Centre has already raised $600,000 to make up the difference in a “Seal the Deal” campaign featuring the two star attractions. Fundraising efforts continue for the final $1.4 million construction budget.

Construction tender packages are scheduled to go out in May.

“It will be a tight schedule,” says MacKenzie. “We’ll need a weather-tight structure raised by November, and the aquarium will be reopening on June 15 of next year.”

Does he dare say it?

“When the revamped facility is opened to the public,” he smiles, “it’ll be a whole new kettle of fish.”

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