Construction of the City of Peterborough’s affordable housing project at 681 Monaghan Rd. has seen significant progress as precast structural loadbearing walls and precast floor slabs have been installed followed by prefabricated wall panels.
This is the first City construction project to use prefabricated construction techniques.
Construction started in fall 2023, with an official groundbreaking ceremony held on October 11, 2023 for the six-storey building with 53 units including 37 one-bedroom, 11 two-bedroom and five three-bedroom units with amenity space and utilities on the ground floor. Construction is expected to be completed this year.
“It’s exciting to see the progress of construction at 681 Monaghan Road,” said Councillor Keith Riel, chair of the City’s Housing Portfolio. “This important housing project is being funded as part of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Rapid Housing Program, so it was essential that the team assessed construction techniques for both cost efficiency and the ability to facilitate a shorter construction period.”
“Unity Design Studio, formerly Lett Architects, has a rich history in Peterborough and is proud to be collaborating with the City of Peterborough on this project – a crucial stride toward providing much-needed affordable housing,” said Roy Turner, senior project lead from Unity Design Studio. “As the building takes form, we would like to express our gratitude for the dedication of the entire project team. Their commitment ensures that upon completion, this building will offer affordable housing to many and positively impact our community.”
“As proud members of this community, we are so fortunate to be able to help address this crisis with this much needed project, said Craig Mortlock, president of Mortlock Construction. “To date, we’ve spent many months working together with the City of Peterborough and the design team to design, coordinate, implement and construct this building. We are now at a very exciting stage of the project. We, and any other passerby, get to witness the fruits of the team’s planning and coordination, as the precast concrete structural panels are being delivered and placed on site. It is so rewarding to see this building taking shape so quickly, growing daily, eventually allowing so many people to call this building home.”
This affordable housing project received $18.9 million in federal funding through the third round of the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI3), $40,000 in SEED funding, $854,810 through the Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative (OPHI) and over $4 million from the City of Peterborough. The project, which is expected to be completed this year, will be home to vulnerable populations in Peterborough, including Black Canadians, people with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, homeless people or those at risk of homelessness.
Featured image: (City of Peterborough)
