New Neerlandia Co-op Centre taking shape

There is a missing piece in the Neerlandia community, which was filled at one time by the Co-op Home and Farm Centre and warehouse that burned to the ground last summer.

But, where there was once an empty construction site, now stands strong, sturdy walls and a new beginning.

Yes, Neerlandia’s new Co-op Centre is taking great strides towards its completion. Part of the building is scheduled to be open this fall.

When building a concrete building, said Lambert Veenstra, owner of Lambert’s Concrete, everything needs to be exact. Everything down to the doors and windows have to be put in the right place, which involves quite the preparation process.

“There was a lot of work involved with the planning,” he said at the construction site. “We started a little later than we had hoped, but now things should fall into place.”

Veenstra said they’re hoping to have the home centre up and running by October of this year. Because Neerlandia currently has a grocery store, that part of the project isn’t as urgent and is scheduled to be completed next winter towards spring.

“We have a grocery store that’s operating,” said Veenstra. “But this [home centre] needs to get finished first because after the other building burned down, everything we had was gone.”

The site for the new centre, which is graveled, was built last fall. The site is looking more like a building each day, with walls going up and a roof in place.

With concrete walls and a steel roof, Neerlandians won’t have to worry about this Co-op Centre burning down. There is also a firewall dividing the warehouse from the main building.

“This one won’t burn too quick,” said Veenstra. “ The only chance of fire would be contents. A fire can still do a lot of damage inside, but the building itself should be fireproof.”

In addition to keeping the structure safe from the damage of flames, Veenstra added a building like this will last much longer than one constructed of wood.

“Wood frame buildings, after 30 years, they start to show age, wear,” said Veenstra. “Concrete is more permanent.”

The panels began arriving two weeks ago by truck, two at a time, weighing a whopping 30,000 pounds each.

The truck drives them right onto the site, where a crane picks them up and, guided by the crew, makes them part of the wall.

Despite the weight and size of the panels, it only takes about 15 minutes for each of the concrete monstrosities to be put into place.

Once the panels are situated, they have to be anchored with large pipes to keep the them in place.

“These pipes coming down, they’re just temporary until the roof is on and everything is in place,” said Veenstra. “Then that all stabilizes it.”

Once the roof is on, Veenstra said everything should go fairly well and without delay.

Currently there are about a dozen people on site as far as the crew goes. However that number will greatly increase in the near future as the process moves along.

“After we get the building up and the electricians and mechanical people get here, then there will be a lot more,” said Veenstra.