CLS Awards $2.2-M Steel Contract to Saskatoon Firm

Posted November 17, 1999


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 17, 1999 99-11-12-OTHER

CLS AWARDS $2.2-M STEEL CONTRACT TO SASKATOON FIRM

The Canadian Light Source (CLS) synchrotron project has awarded a $2.2-million contract for the supply, fabrication and installation of structural steel to a Saskatoon firm, Supreme Steel Ltd. The contract is the largest awarded to date for the $173.5-million University of Saskatchewan-owned national facility.

The Supreme Steel bid was the lowest of five submitted by firms from across Western Canada. Steel fabrication and installation will start on the construction site Dec. 20.

Roughly 1,300 tonnes of steel will be used in the building structure. That's equivalent to 65 truckloads of steel.

"It's a unique building design - the steel trusses span, with no supports, almost 300 feet which is almost the length of a Canadian football field," said Ross Fraser, general manager of Supreme Steel Ltd. "We're very pleased to be participating in the challenge of building it."

Fraser said the synchrotron project will be a tremendous economic boost for Saskatoon. "It puts Saskatoon on the map and it will bring research dollars to the city," he said.

There was a major pour of concrete at the site on Friday. The amount of concrete to be used in the structure is equivalent to what would be needed to cover an area the size of 7.5 Canadian football fields with a 30-centimetre layer of concrete.

Tenders have closed and are now being evaluated on the next major CLS contract - the building envelope package.

Construction of the building that will house the synchrotron will be complete in December of 2000. Design and tendering is now underway for construction of the synchrotron itself. The synchrotron machine will be built by February of 2003.

The initial set of six beamlines (conduits for carrying synchrotron light to experimental work stations) will be complete by December of 2003 when the project is expected to begin operations.

The $173.5-million total budget is comprised of $140.9 million in new funding plus almost $33 million in existing facilities and equipment.

Members of the CLS Board of Directors took their first tour of the construction site today. Board members include:

  • Arthur Carty, President of the National Research Council and chair of the CLS Board of Directors.

  • Tony Whitworth, U of S Vice-President Finance

  • Michael Corcoran, U of S Vice-President Research

  • Doug Maley, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Western Economic Development

  • Fraser Nicholson, Deputy Minister, Saskatchewan Economic and Co-operative Development

  • Larry Spannier, Associate Deputy Minister, Saskatchewan Economic and Co-operative Development

  • Dennis Skopik, Former Acting Director of the CLS

  • Celerino Abad-Zapatero, Associate Research Fellow, Department of Structural Biology, Abbott Laboratories

  • Ronald Cavell, University of Alberta chemistry professor and president of the Canadian Institute for Synchrotron Radiation

  • Adam Hitchcock, McMaster University chemistry professor and chair of the Canadian Institute for Synchrotron Radiation
For more information about the synchrotron and what it will do for science and innovation across Canada, visit: www.usask.ca/research/synchrotron.shtml

For more information, contact:

Kathryn Warden
Research Communications Officer
(306) 966-2506