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Through a unique partnership between the SHDM and the Habitations Terrasse Saint Michel organization, the Saint-Michel neighbourhood is revealed in its best light and unveils its innovative, community and solidarity features.

After acquiring in 1990, in the heart of Saint-Michel, a set of 14 buildings totaling 127 dwellings that were in disrepair, the SHDM renovated and restored all of the buildings and created housing for families. Mindful of the social and cultural complexity of the neighborhood as well as of the dynamism of several community groups, SHDM turned over to the latter the management of these properties. In 1995, the organization Habitations Terrasse St-Michel was created, regrouping on its board several organizations that were already active in the area.

As the new owner, the SHDM carried out major works to improve the tenants’ quality of life. It also assumed the financial risk by supporting the decisions and proposals of the managing organization. Hence, premises have been offered free of charge to certain organizations, on an ad hoc or ongoing basis, and some of the dwellings were offered primarily to young single mothers. For its part, the Habitations Terrasse St-Michel organization is active in the field and contributes to a sense of well-being. Making repairs as quickly as possible and even preventively, maintaining lawns, planting flowers around the entrances, painting the walls, but also involving residents, helping them to fit in and step out of their isolation are some of the tasks undertaken by the organization.

The success of this business model was highlighted in 2002 by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) by giving to the Habitations Terrasse St-Michel project and the partners involved a Excellence Award for « Affordable Housing Innovations » in the “Process and Management” category.

In addition to providing below the market rents to a fragile clientele, this partnership created a community center and provided leverage to local organizations. This approach adequately addresses the needs of residents and neighbourhood issues. In addition to the very family-oriented environment, with a large proportion of households with more than three children, the Habitations Terrasse St-Michel welcome people from across the world. « For us, diversity is extremely important, » explains Claude Deshaies, treasurer of the Habitations Terrasse St-Michel organization. A community worker at the St-Michel CLSC for more than 20 years – retired in October 2015 – he reflects on the evolution of neighbourhood. « Before, St. Michel was a transition course and had a very bad reputation. Today, we see that people are comfortable here and that they do not want to leave. This means that they bonded with the neighbourhood and that they now feel it is theirs. The cooperation and coordination of community and municipal organizations was behind this turn around.”

A community worker at the Bureau Info-Logement of Centre éducatif communautaire René-Goupil and a board member of Habitations Terrasse St-Michel, Coralie Leroux explains that the purpose of community groups is to fight against the « Out of sight out of mind  » mentality. All these small projects, workshops, meetings organized by community groups, are aimed at empowering people, but they are also excuses for people to gather, share some coffee, chat, and get to know each other. The goal is to help them come out of their isolation. « 

The SHDM, an expert in Responsible Property Investment, is proud of this partnership which helped to build a real living environment and would like to thank and congratulate the team of Habitations Terrasse St-Michel for its commitment and its outstanding work.

Claude Deshaies, treasurer of the Habitations Terrasse St-Michel organization

Annie, in charge of the community garden and Soumaila Kafando, social mobilizer for Action Saint-Michel-Est (ASME)

The community garden

Front facade of Habitations Terasse Saint-Michel

Mural produced by MU

With over 20 years of experience in financial management, Mario De Fanti was entrusted with the management of the Finance and Administration Department of the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM). Reporting to the managing director, Nancy Shoiry, he will be responsible for the implementation of all financial and budgetary processes in the corporation. Mr. De Fanti will also lead the corporation’s development with respect to procurements, IT systems and administration, in addition to managing the teams involved with these issues.

Mario De Fanti’s extensive career bears out his wide expertise, including financial and strategic planning, financial analysis and project management. Known for his analytical ability, integrity and leadership, he will ensure that the finance and administration team’s activities are in keeping with SHDM’s values and strategic objectives.

After managing the finances of the property management division of an international telecommunications company for over 10 years and having served as Vice President, Finance and Administration, in the Old Port of Montréal Corporation, Mr. De Fanti was recently heading the operations of the finance, procurements and IT departments of the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau. Mario De Fanti was ranked among the top ten in Canada for the 1994-1995 tax, auditing and financial accounting exams of the CGA Order and has a BA in Accounting from Concordia University.

Our offices will be closed from Thursday December 24^th,2015 to Monday January 4^th, 2016 inclusively.

Of course, a team will ensure emergency services and will take messages on our voice mail at 514 380-SHDM (7436).

While construction of the Îlot Balmoral is progressing smoothly, the SHDM is entering a new phase of the project by launching the marketing of rental spaces that are still available.

True to its mission of economic, social and cultural development of Montréal, the SHDM primarily targets cultural, digital and institutional organizations as potential tenants of this landmark building located near the Place des Festivals.

It may be recalled that the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will install its headquarters in the building and occupy six of its thirteen floors in spring 2018.

Would you like to benefit from synergy with the NFB, the dynamism of the Quartier des spectacles and the proximity with Montréal’s business centre, and all this in a bold architectural environment that has a LEED NC 2009 GOLD rating? Let us know about your interest by sending a presentation file that specifies your needs no later than February 26, 2016 to have your application evaluated.

All information materials as well as the expression of interest form are available on a dedicated page of SHDM’s portal.

 

We were delighted to learn that the building of the shdm.org portal by the Akufen studio was awarded a Boomerang award last Thursday in the category « Website or application for a non-profit organization ».

The Boomerang Awards jury assessed, among other aspects, how the strategy met the client’s objectives creatively. Indeed, beyond design and technological prowess, the SHDM’s website was to expose visitors to the great diversity of its activities at a glance, in an environment that is fulfilling and user-friendly but yet in keeping with the corporation’s institutional image.

The redesign of our website was needed both for technological reasons, our previous platform had become outdated, and to offer a showcase that is representative of our activities and positive for the corporation.

With a completely redesigned navigation and an interactive search map for rental housing, the SHDM website provides Internet users with more comprehensive information on its activities and services with respect to affordable housing and home ownership.

The site has been designed to provide optimal ergonomics navigation adapted to all platforms, to integrate new contents and to offer an innovative search tool for housing. This custom-designed interactive tool was especially developed to locate, by borough, available rental units offered through SHDM’s various programs.

The structure was designed to help users to easily find the contents that are of interest to them. The site’s design and the use of pictures of actual SHDM properties are a reflection of the corporation’s values and they enable its clienteles to identify with the new portal.

Enjoy the site!

(Scroll down to see the photos which document the beginning of the construction of Îlot Balmoral)

This is it! The Îlot Balmoral project is underway. For several weeks now, workers are busy constructing the building’s foundation walls, which will also serve as retaining walls. Indeed, rather than opting for the conventional technique of a Berlin wall, the project team opted for the technique of the diaphragm wall.

 

What is a diaphragm wall? 

It’s a concrete wall, poured into the ground to a depth of between 16 and 18 meters, serving both as retaining wall and foundation for the building to be constructed. To cast this wall, two low walls are constructed in the ground to define the thickness of the future wall. They are used as a guide to ensure the alignment of the excavation when digging deep trenches using a specialized excavator. Throughout the excavation, the trench is immersed with bentonite slurry whose properties make it possible to stabilize the walls. Once the excavation is completed, a reinforcement cage is inserted. As concrete is gradually poured into the trench, the mud is pumped out and recovered to be reused for the excavation of the next section of the foundation. The process is repeated all around the foundation’s projected area, by sections of ten meters in length at a time.

This technique was first developed for the foundations of very large buildings. The twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York were in fact built using this technique back in 1966. Exposed after the attacks, the diaphragm walls are at the heart of the National September 11 Memorial.

When asked about this technique, Marc Tousignant, site supervisor at the SHDM, says that in a more than 30 year career, this is the first time he witnesses such a maneuver on a construction site. « It’s one of the reasons why I love my job! There are always new things to learn. Besides, I’m not the only one. Most guys on the site are all as excited to work with this type of construction. Very few buildings in Montréal have made use of diaphragm walls. « 

Marc Tousignant specifies that if the technique is much more expensive than other more conventional methods, it has many benefits and can even translate into savings on the costs of the subsequent phases of the project. For example, it enables controlling water infiltration from the ground at the perimeter of the excavation as well as stabilizing soils during excavation. With the foundation wall in place after the mass excavation is completed, building of the concrete structure can start in spring of 2016, presenting the noteworthy advantage of not having to carry out this type of work during the winter period.

We look forward to the rest of the story! Once the diaphragm walls are built, excavation and site decontamination can start. We’ll tell you more soon after New Year!

(Photo credits: Sylvie Trépanier and courtesy of SHDM)