Midtown Plaza, an indoor shopping center in Saskatoon, holds over 150 stores and services. The first phase of the center’s renovation included architectural updates, new elevator and escalators and a new retail lobby and security office. Phase 2 will redevelop the former Sears and relocate the existing food court. 

With more than 100 tenants, the renovations needed to reduce impacts to operations and customers. Preconstruction planning and budgeting helped ensure finished spaces were delivered on time for new tenant lease agreements. Schedule overlaps were created to coordinate 14 different food tenant contractors as part of the food court redevelopment. Phase 2 accommodates a wide range of new dining options with its 42,000 square-foot food court.

Temperatures below freezing have the potential to burst sprinkler and plumbing lines and delay concrete curing, incidents that can cause significant schedule and cost impacts. Since the project did not have a permanent heating solution during construction, we set up temporary heaters to make sure finishes, pipes and poured concrete remained atoptimal temperatures.  The use of temporary heaters requires project teams to constantly check the heaters to ensure they are operating. To reduce the time spent checking the heaters while also ensuring the site remained at optimal temperatures, we installed Job Site Insights™ smart sensors to monitor temperatures and alert the team to any readings out of the necessary range.

On a Friday night after everyone had left the site, a heater unexpectedly shut off. We were notified immediately, giving us enough time to return and fix the heater, ensuring no pipes froze and caused water damage. A burst pipe at that time could have caused a significant amount of damage—and money—if JSI^TM sensors weren’t in place.