Toronto St Lawrence Market North | 25.3m | 5s | City of Toronto | Rogers Stirk Harbour

2. Why was the colour changed?• The decision to change the colour of the air intake trumpets from red to grey occurred during RHSP’s review of external and internal finish colours. They concluded that the colour of the air intake trumpets should be more neutral to align with the more vibrant colours for key architectural components around the trumpets.
What a load of horse manure... 😾
 
No doubt you will all be surprised to hear that I have now received a response to my FOI Request about the trumpet colours.

Further to our letter of February 2, 2022, I am replying to your access request under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. You have requested access to the following information: “Any emails, meeting minutes, or written records concerning the decision to change the colour of the 'ventilation trumpets' on the new north St. Lawrence Market from red to grey, including: 1) who made the decision to change the colour and design feature under what authority, and 2) what was the cost or cost savings from this change.

Records search from January 1, 2021, to February 29, 2024.”

Staff of the Corporate Real Estate Management Division has conducted a search for records responsive to your request. This decision reflects the results of their search.

Responsive Records

Staff of the Corporate Real Estate Management has advised that the requested information is not readily available in either paper or electronic formats. More specifically, they indicated that the decision to change the colour of the "trumpets” was made during the development of construction drawings which spread over 12 months of time, and there is no way to determine when the decision was made. Therefore, staff have to manually search all records, all minutes, all drawings and design specifications - hard copies included - in order to pinpoint when the decision was made. Furthermore, it has been estimated that it will take an average of 30 seconds to review each record (email) to determine if it is responsive to the request. However, the abovementioned program area provided the following information in response to your inquiries.

1. When did this change occur?• The decision to change the colour of the air intake trumpets happened during the development of the contract documents. This spanned a 12-month period whereby many discussions between the City and the Design Architect, RSHP, took place. The decision to change the colour of the trumpets was ultimately made by RSHP.

2. Why was the colour changed?• The decision to change the colour of the air intake trumpets from red to grey occurred during RHSP’s review of external and internal finish colours. They concluded that the colour of the air intake trumpets should be more neutral to align with the more vibrant colours for key architectural components around the trumpets.

3. Were there any costs associated with the change?• No

They also told me that if I wish to proceed and obtain copies of any minutes or emails, the estimated cost will be $1350. Oddly enough I will not proceed further - though I still think the change was a poor idea!!
Thanks for doing this. What an absolute load of garbage. Then covering their tracks with the offer of a $1350 charge for the evidence is pretty rich...
 
I mean...
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Thanks for doing this. What an absolute load of garbage. Then covering their tracks with the offer of a $1350 charge for the evidence is pretty rich...
I only paid the standard $5 for the FOI and it did get me/us the answers - even if with no 'supporting evidence'. If anyone has contacts at RHSP it would be 'interesting' to learn why (or if!) this was really their idea.
 
I only paid the standard $5 for the FOI and it did get me/us the answers - even if with no 'supporting evidence'. If anyone has contacts at RHSP it would be 'interesting' to learn why (or if!) this was really their idea.
I'd be willing to bet significant money it was not (unless under significant pressure from the client).
 
Yes, I really wonder if RHSP came up with this change.
...I mean, when there is already plenty of grey glazing used on the building...there really is no real need for further neutral colouring. So the claim here is both ridiculous and made in bad faith as far as I am concerned regardless of who made it.
 
It's not worth it in this case, I suppose, but the decision could be appealed to the IPC - I very much doubt that it would take 30 seconds per email or document. Anyone can search for any character string in gigabytes of data in a matter of seconds.
Yeah, but if someone searched "grey" or "gray" in City of Toronto and related suppliers emails, the results would create brownouts across the Northeast. Our grid simply isn't prepared for such a search.

42
 
BlogTO using a picture of the old North Market in a non-vintage post. Made me go back - its last day was 9yrs ago this June. So our south-south market tent is almost 9yrs old. Let’s hear it for the durability of tent. Looking forward to its 10th birthday next year.
blogTO.png
 
BlogTO using a picture of the old North Market in a non-vintage post. Made me go back - its last day was 9yrs ago this June. So our south-south market tent is almost 9yrs old. Let’s hear it for the durability of tent. Looking forward to its 10th birthday next year.View attachment 563350
The temporarytent may get designated as a Heritage Structure then and be here forever!
/sarcasm
 

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