We are in our new space!

It has been a long time since I posted photos and lots of progress has been made. We had our first service in the new space on Sunday, September 4th and it was lovely. About 50 people attended the first service. There is still work to be done but we are able to appreciate the beauty of the new surroundings.

See below for photos of the work that has been done in the last two months.

Laying the bricks in the driveway. Hot work!

Kitchen cabinets and counter tops…getting closer to being finished!

Jill, Gil and Janet inspecting the front entrance way.

Sliding doors between sanctuary and narthex.

The new electrical panel in the kitchen. One of the benefits of renovating our old church is that our old systems are being upgraded. It will be much safer with our updated wiring (the electrician did not have good things to say about the condition of the old wiring!)

The cornerstone was removed on Friday, August 19th. A small group of Manor Road UC members attended its removal and viewed the contents of the time capsule! I will post more details about the cornerstone and the time capsule in a separate post soon.

CEC building demo 2.jpg — The Christian Education Building being taken down.

aaaaa — Our wonderful cleaning crew, Sierra Cleaners who donated their cleaning services to our church. We are so appreciative of this very generous gesture! We hosted a lunch for Sierra as a token of our appreciation. Joining the Sierra crew for lunch are Rev. Debra, Manor Road volunteers May and Susan (and Allison who took the photo) and Compass Site Supervisor Gil. Thank you, Sierra, for your amazing services!

Lots of progress…

Compass Construction and their contractors have been very busy since my last update. The changes are exciting! Check out the photos below to track the progress.

We had many volunteers, including students Daniel, Jamie and Zane, move the items from the Christian Education Centre (CEC) to the Sanctuary on June 25th. Thanks to all of the volunteers for making a big job much easier! We were sad to say good-bye to the CEC but are looking forward to our newly renovated space. We also bid farewell to our long-time tenants, Manor Montessori School, who are relocating to a new site. We wish them well in their new location!

The kitchen packers! Well done, May, Judy and Fina on such a hot day. No air conditioning in the old kitchen…

Corridor to CEC closed for asbestos removal from breezeway. City of Toronto is abating hazardous contaminants and then the breezeway will be demolished.

MRUC Basement daycare corridor.JPG — Corridor in basement closed for asbestos removal.

MRUC New Front walkway.JPG — The new front walkway.

Getting ready to put glass in frame above I-beam. They say it’s really warm up there.

Preparing to put down parking pad…still awaiting front doors.

And now the glass is being installed in the front doors.

Lift shaft being installed at front entrance

The organ is placed in its new location (but not yet turned) for the floors to be sanded.

Rev. Debra and Michael inspecting the new space.

Getting ready to turn on the air conditioning.The workers will appreciate it and we need it for the floors to dry after they are stained.

IMG_20160722_114821_hdr-1 — The new kitchen cabinets look great!

Shutter for the kitchen pass through window.

MRUC New view from balcony.JPG — The view from the balcony.

MRUC balconcy storage.JPG — Lots of items can be stored on the balcony. Thanks to the decorating committee, Marianne and May, for their efforts in organizing these items and Manuel and others for helping to move it all over from the CEC.

MRUC Basement daycare windows 4.JPG — The new windows in the basement make the rooms look so bright. It will not feel like a basement when it is finished.

That’s all for now but stay tuned for more updates. Thanks to Compass Construction and our architect Janet Harrison for their efforts to get the space move-in ready. We are looking forward to our first service in the Sanctuary!

Lectern and pulpit woodworking in progress

Base pieces for the lectern — These are the base pieces for the lectern.

Pulpit quatrefoil traceries — These pieces are the quatrefoil traceries that will be placed on the pulpit.

White walls and lights

Meeting room wood stained windows — Wood stain around windows to meeting room

Balcony with white upper railing — White on railing of balcony

New light fixtures — New sconce lighting looks very elegant

Front stairs 2 — Looking at front entrance from the main floor. The lift will be on the right. Stairs that you can see go down to the daycare in the basement.

View of chancel from narthex — Another view of the new lighting sconces.

View from balcony — The chancel from the balcony.

Asbestos abatement — Type 1 asbestos abatement. Allison and Jill liked the gloves.

Daycare room — One of the daycare rooms. The rooms will be quite bright when the windows are installed.

Latest Photos

IMG_20160606_130138 — This new hydro pole may not look exciting but it took much coordination with Toronto Hydro, the City of Toronto and our contractors and consultants to have it installed. We are happy to have it! Now the electrician will go ahead with connecting the new wiring.

IMG_20160606_122442 — The floors in the Sunday school room upstairs look great! The next step is to install the bathroom sink and the kitchenette’s sink as well as secure the cabinets (from the old kitchen on the main floor) to the walls.

There was a fire in the construction bin outside of the church on Friday, June 3. Construction workers found the fire at 5:45 am and called the fire department; the firefighters said it had been smouldering in the bin for a number of days. The cause is not known but fortunately, no one was injured and there was no damage apart from the burned construction materials which had to cool on the ground before they could be manually cleared away.

Windows are in the meeting rooms

Windows in Ellen’s office. She no longer will have to do the limbo! Compass is insulating the ceiling pipes which should help regulate the heat better in the winter time.

Looking east in Ellen’s office. This used to be part of the old upstairs kitchen. Ellen will have a bigger brighter space when the renovation is completed.

Another view of the northeast corner of Ellen’s office.

The new glass is installed in the meeting rooms. This view is from inside the southern most meeting room, looking west into the sanctuary.

Looking into the meeting room from the sanctuary.

The view from the sanctuary hallway into the meeting rooms.

Still a beautiful, light-filled space. The sunlight comes into the sanctuary through the east windows and the meeting room windows.

The view of the front entrance from the main floor. Not quite ready to use yet! The lift and stairs will be installed sometime in June.

The air conditioning units on the west side of the church along with our many recycling and garbage bins. It’s supposed to be a hot summer but we’ll be prepared for that!

One more air conditioning unit on the west side of the building just north of the fire exit stairs. These stairs will be removed near the end of the project because this exit door is not required.

Architect Janet standing in the basement hallway in the daycare section of the building.

One of the daycare rooms. The expanded windows let in lots of natural light. The drywall is up.

Looking east in the daycare towards the entrance to the CEC building which is scheduled for demolition in July.

An old photo uncovered during the renovation work.

Latest photos

Great news! Our renovation is moving at a fast pace. Barring any unforeseen events, we have been assured by Compass Construction, our project managers, that our Sanctuary will be ready for July. At that point, the Montessori school will have re-located and the City of Toronto will commence its demolition of the Christian Education Centre. The demolition will take many weeks because hazardous materials have to be removed from the building before it can be demolished. When the CEC has been demolished, Compass can oversee the building of our new side entrance and the main entrance for the daycare, as well as our new parking lot. The chancel looks great, with the new ramp up to it and the organ re-positioned sideways. The meeting rooms will look lovely with the windows along their west wall, which will still let plenty of light into the Sanctuary. New bigger windows in the basement add extra light for the daycare and the concrete has now been poured so their new flooring can be laid in about three more weeks. Check out the exciting changes below.

: Widened window openings in the west wall of the basement for the daycare will let in more natural light. You will recognize the red poles from their placement in the old kitchen.