Most of us rarely think about concrete, but it’s the foundation of modern society — from roads, buildings and bridges to the economy, political power and crime. We use more of it than anything except water. Concrete has been a great driver of human progress. It’s allowed us to build up instead of out, made […]
Construction
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dump trucks and social dumping
The large dump trucks of construction waste thunder by my Schmidtville window with a downshifting growl on the grade outside my house. One every six minutes, by my count. It’s not warm outside so my windows are closed. But just wait for the warm days when I have to open them. When this round of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Harbr’s building momentum in the construction tech field
Some tech companies are started in dorm rooms. Harbr traces its roots to Dave Kim’s living room. Kim is a transplant from Australia to Nova Scotia. Long story short, while travelling in his 20s he became friendly with some Cape Bretoners in upstate New York, and decided to check out their home turf. Sure enough […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
We didn’t start the (garbage) fire
Lorne Grabher, Jacques Dubé, Jamie Baillie walks away Street check data, Jimmy Melvin, rockets in Canso Robert Bjerke, Lady Drive Her, Sea Bridge floating on the water Cheryl Blossom, Donkin mine, Whitman says “negro” Saltwire buys out Transcon, women march on Washington Moonlight beats out La La Land, Matthew, Bill and Jad are canned David […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
World Tea House fighting for survival on Argyle Street
Argyle is open for business, but you wouldn’t know it from the look of the place, and that’s causing problems for the street’s storefronts. “PLEASE help us survive,” the World Tea House screamed on Tuesday into the void of Twitter. The business is currently treading water on week six of the much-feared Argyle Street beautification […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council’s summer vacation power handoff
Restricting how much the CAO can spend when council’s not around is really harshing Steve Craig’s summer vibes. The deputy mayor wants to give unlimited spending authority back to HRM’s chief administrative officer, five months after those powers were taken away because of the potential for misuse. Craig is putting forward a motion at the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Growing Halifax without messing it up
Ask the right people, and you’ll discover Halifax is about to get a lot bigger. Looking at recent statistics, the population of HRM rose from 359,111 in 2001 to 390,096 in 2011. That’s an average growth rate of nearly 1% every year. While past performance is no guarantee of future results, at that rate we’re […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Centre Plan takes centre stage
If you go to the very back of Halifax’s 306-page Municipal Planning Strategy, you’ll find a 12-page list called Municipal Development Plan Amendments in Chronological Order of Ministerial Approval. That’s a mouthful, so I like to call it “the special snowflake list.” For example, height precincts may allow for a maximum building height of 35 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
HRM development’s critical masses
The sound of drills, the sight of construction cranes and the annoyance of closed sidewalks: This scene is familiar to anyone who’s spent time in Halifax lately. It’s getting hard to walk anywhere in the urban core without seeing some sort of high-rise construction. There’s plenty of speculation about the cause of all this building, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Demolition begins on Doyle Street block
[Image-1] Sidewalks on the north side of Spring Garden Road and south side of Doyle Street between Brunswick and Queen are closed for the next two weeks as demolition of the Doyle block is now underway. The entire city block is coming down to make way for a seven-storey mixed-used complex including a boutique hotel, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
When roundabouts suck
Last week, The Coast and the PLANifax design group released a video about Halifax’s crush on roundabouts. It was pretty popular, but the video’s calling out of one driver for not knowing the rules of the road got criticism. Some people thought that black truck was driving exactly the way it’s supposed to. But our […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Video debate: Is Halifax’s crush on roundabouts good news?
On paper, roundabouts are safer and move traffic better than traditional intersections. But on the street, people aren’t so sure that Halifax should put a ring on the latest trend in road construction. Our latest PLANifax video collab circles around the issues. Take a look, then share what you think of roundabouts in the comments. […]