Government will offer tour of 'skypalace' later today

The place is spectacular! I move there next week.

I'll see if I can get pics, if our boss gets us a tour today. From outside, the new atrium really is spectacular!

Our ministry keeps getting torn apart and put back together again every time there is a cabinet shuffle. So there are little bits of it in buildings all over the city. The Federal building will mean a cost reduction in that rent costs are decreased once we are mostly amalgamated in one area, because the Provincial Government owns the property.

I'd love to see pics. Company I used to work for supplied a lot of the materials. Including some very very expensive wall/ceiling panels. Those things pisssed me off. So much money spent to bring them in from Europe. I have no objection to spending some money and making the place look nice, but this stuff was ridiculous. And why can't the government of Alberta find materials in Alberta? Or at least Canada...

Being a hobbyist woodworker, I know why. We simply don't have affordable hardwoods in North America. Some exotic species also don't grow here, and buying South American is seen as contributing to rain forest loss. (assuming they are wood) So, that leaves African or European species.

So which fuckwit with a fancy title is going to appropriate the Zamboni garage for his/her personal use?

Being a hobbyist woodworker, I know why. We simply don't have affordable hardwoods in North America. Some exotic species also don't grow here, and buying South American is seen as contributing to rain forest loss. (assuming they are wood) So, that leaves African or European species.

We have lots of maple.

It's rumored to be turned into a couple small shops, like a coffee and sandwich place.

It's rumored to be turned into a couple small shops, like a coffee and sandwich place.

So which fuckwit with a title is going to get kickbacks from the sweetheart deal to lease the Zamboni garage for a Starbuck's or a Timmie's?

(The Cynicism is strong in me today!)

Being a hobbyist woodworker, I know why. We simply don't have affordable hardwoods in North America. Some exotic species also don't grow here, and buying South American is seen as contributing to rain forest loss. (assuming they are wood) So, that leaves African or European species.

We have lots of maple.

Maple is a good wood for casings, but kind of crappy for ornamental. It dents and scratches really easy. We also don't have many species of Oak, Chestnut, Teak . . . many woods that grow well in warmer climates.

So which fuckwit with a title is going to get kickbacks from the sweetheart deal to lease the Zamboni garage for a Starbuck's or a Timmie's?

(The Cynicism is strong in me today!)

Very strong!

It'll most likely be a public tender, so no hopes of kickbacks because a different ministry handles that. "Alberta Infrastructure", aka: The Department of 'No you can't do that!'.

I would like to see your spanky new SkyPalace! I am thinking if it's been as good as the weather I will like it.

Being a hobbyist woodworker, I know why. We simply don't have affordable hardwoods in North America. Some exotic species also don't grow here, and buying South American is seen as contributing to rain forest loss. (assuming they are wood) So, that leaves African or European species.
I don't doubt that whatever they got was best got there, but there are hundreds or thousands of beautiful products that could've been used instead. The stuff they got was hundreds of dollars a square foot.

Hundreds of dollars per square foot?

Really?