It's not quite like putting together Legos, but piece-by-piece, a new condominium development is being constructed in Estevan.
Marisa Condos, located on the 600 block of Third Street, is a modular condominium project, where sections constructed in Boise, Idaho are pieced together to form a 55-unit, four-story building.
Due to a plethora of reasons including construction time and cost, modular buildings are becoming more and more popular among developers. A number of modular apartment buildings were recently constructed in Regina's southwest corner to help with that city's housing shortage.
The Marisa project is the first of its kind in Estevan and could prove to be a model for future buildings in a community where, like Regina, housing is in short supply.
Matt Dorling of Pinetree Developments, the company behind the project, said the range of benefits to modular construction run the gamut from cost to environmental.
"It has a significantly less carbon footprint than the traditional footprint, than the traditional stick built framing of homes or apartments in North America," he said. "It uses a lot less energy and is far more efficient than a typical construction site where everything is built on site.
"The other reason is the labour costs and efficiencies are far better than doing it in a region where there are minimal trades available to do a project of that size in a timeframe that it can be done efficiently, where you are not going over budget because you are unable to get trades on site to finish the job."
Dorling said once the individual sections are constructed in Idaho, they are trucked to Estevan and lifted into place by a crane. The first section arrived in Estevan last Thursday and as of Monday they had 75 per cent of the building in place.
Dorling said once the sections are lifted into position they are locked together so that much of the inside work can commence.
"They begin the mechanical work inside the building with the heating systems, connecting the electrical; all of the HVAC is also done once the modulars are fully blocked together," Dorling said.
"Later this week Wilhelm Construction will be putting the roof trusses up on top of the building so by Monday of next week a roof will be completed. We began construction on-site on Nov. 23, 2013 and (Wilhelm Construction) projects that we'll be completed on June 30 of this year. So within seven months, we'll be from a breaking ground stage to a new apartment building ready for occupancy."
Dorling said the units are being sold as condos for individual buyers and they are also promoting them as revenue properties. He added they might retain a portion of the building for rental housing.
Although the project is the first of its scope in Estevan, Dorling said it won't be the last. His company has its eyes on projects in 2015 and 2016 and he has spoken to other developers that plan to go the same route.
"It's a high quality building product when it is finished, and it is much more economical, and it makes good business sense for any environment where you don't have a competitive area of people bidding on jobs."
For more information on the project see: www.marisacondos.com
