b'Payworks is rightfully very proud to be one of the top employers in Manitoba. They could be moving their headquarters anywhere across Canada if they wanted to,and they chose to stay here because of the people. Frank Koreman, Akman Constructiona very roomy lunch room. What we were conscious of was making the buildinga place where there are other activities available to enjoy duringthe day.The outdoor space is as important as the indoor environment, with the structure built upward instead of outward in order to leave much of the eight-acre site developed as an outdoor environment for all to enjoy. Russell Krepart of MMP Architects Inc. explains, We did sort of a riff on Manitoba geological features. There are little hills called drumlins. The water features play on the theme of retreating glaciers, and something they leave behind on the landscape called a kettle. Anywhere you are in the building, youll be able to look across acres and acres of this site, which will all be planted with native vegetation like prairie grasses. The plan is a four-storey building to preserve as much of the site as we can, both for the beauty of the site and to allow for potential future expansion.That existing landscape proved challenging for the construction team during record precipitation in the first half of 2022. The on-site soil conditions are predominantly silt, and we were right in excavation at the time, notes Frank Koreman, Project Manager with construction management firm Akman Construction. Travis [Hebert, Akman Site Superintendent], in his ingenuity, got the site services in first, so we were able to move the water off of our site within 30 hours of any major downpour. That sounds like a lot of time, but if it happened on a Friday, we could actually have the crew back on Monday, and theyd be able to continue on. As challenging as that was, we Issue 4 | Winter Edition | 2022 BUILD MANITOBA 41'