This mixed-use development combining hotel and residential is the first of its kind in Edmonton. Located in the heart of Canada’s largest mixed-use sports and entertainment district, the JW Marriott is a significant hotel development with more than 300 rooms, 25,000 square feet of meeting and conference space and the city’s largest hotel ballrooms.  Sitting above the JW Marriott is the Legends Private Residences, a luxurious condominium project occupying the remainder of the 55-story tower. Residents enjoy the privileges of sophisticated amenity spaces, refined à la carte hotel services, direct access to Rogers Place and VIP access to concerts. Many of the hotel’s refined services are available to residents. 

The tower had a 10,000-square-foot footprint, which was small for a building of its overall size and height. The small footprint required the ingenuity from the team to ensure a safe and quality product that exceeds expectations. The team developed a concrete mix that could meet strength requirements in the timeframe needed to allow for early formwork stripping, which was key in ensuring the structure met the aggressive schedule. Work on the concrete structure was completed ahead of schedule, and in under 20 months. In all, the team placed more than 30,000 cubic meters of concrete and 4,200 tons of rebar in the tower.  

Meeting the project schedule and turnover date for the hotel was a critical success factor for the owner. Some of the hotel building systems are in the penthouse mechanical room, which meant completing the concrete structure within 20 months was critical for the start and completion of the full mechanical systems needed to operate the hotel ahead of occupancy of the residences.

The team implemented Giatec’s SmartRock™ in-situ concrete strength testing technology to get real-time strength readings enabling the team to save two hours per formwork cycle in the stripping stage. The use of SmartRock™ improved quality by eliminating the possible human errors associated with using field cures.