DUNROBIN – The chief executive officer for Blueprint Properties says area residents can expect the new Dunrobin commercial plaza construction project to be finished fast.

It was an early Christmas present, but a long-time coming, when community members finally saw work begin earlier this month on the site of the former Dunrobin strip mall destroyed in the fall of 2018 by last year’s tornado. Now that the work has begun, Blueprint Properties Inc. construction firm CEO Winston Ang says it won’t be long before the project is completed.

“We’re known for our speed,” Ang told West Carleton Online this morning (Dec. 16) from Toronto. “We can take a two-and-a-half-year project down to four or five months. We’re extremely fast.”

Blueprint Properties Inc. is a fully licensed and insured builder based in Toronto with more than 25 years of experience in every aspect of residential and commercial building and renovation projects. The design, build and project recovery company is an expert in restoration, cleanup and rebuilding of both commercial and residential properties damaged by catastrophic events such as fire, tornadoes and floods.

“We’ve done many,” Ang said referring to projects related to disaster recovery. “We don’t specialize in it, but we’ve done a lot and we get called in to do a lot.”

The project is billed as a “slightly larger” than 12,000-square-foot commercial plaza being built on the former site of the strip mall at the intersection of Dunrobin Road and Thomas A. Dolan Parkway, and will have the same footprint as the former mall. Work started earlier this month with some framing and is getting ready for the next stage.

“Temporary fencing is going up today,” Ang said. “The next stage is the roof. We’ll have to see when the delivery will be. Everybody in Ottawa is very busy this time of year.”

Also on today’s agenda is the installation of some signage for traffic in the area. The roof will be flat instead of the raised, shingled roof that adorned the old building.

Ang says construction will continue through winter.

“If weather permits, yes,” Ang said. “If the snow holds back, we don’t have any restrictions. We have to make sure it’s safe.”

Ang is in close contact with the ownership group of three including group spokesperson Dr. Anwar Haq.

Haq recently stated he hopes the project will be finished this summer.

“That should be an accurate timeline, weather dependent,” Ang said.

Ang, based in Toronto, says he has and will visit the construction site “quite a few times at critical junctions.”

Blueprint Properties was also responsible for the demolition of what remained of the old strip mall. Ang said the former strip mall was not well constructed as the company “analyzed” the construction before tearing it down.

“The previous roof wasn’t installed properly and susceptible to wind lifts,” Ang said. “We are very meticulous in this kind of work. The way it was previously built wasn’t very good. It hung on with nails, basically.”

Ang says one of the reasons Blueprint Properties is known for its speedy project completions is due to the way the company operates.

“We use our own in-house staff,” Ang said.

While they used “someone local” to erect the steel frame, Blueprint Properties has 32 staff to “deal with these builds.”

“We have internal electricians, plumbers, etc.” Ang said. “So things go fast.”

Blueprint Properties has its Master Builder designation.

While rumours swirl around who will be moving in, or potentially moving back in as tenants, nothing has been confirmed. Ang says that information can be helpful while constructing a commercial property.

“That will have to be presented to us when the time comes,” he said.