Westshore Terminals

Westshore Terminals has traditionally been a coal export terminal since 1970, the busiest in North America. In 2022 construction started on a new product to export, potash from the Canadian Prairies.

KWH Constructors was awarded the erection of the huge potash storage shed, a building so vast it quietly claims a continental title. The potash shed, the largest of its kind in North America, stretches an astonishing 400 meters long, 70 meters wide, and 40 meters high.

It is not only extraordinary in its scale, but its material. Instead of steel dominating the skyline, this giant is built primarily from wood, approximately 6,500 tons of mass timber shaped, lifted, and fitted together with precision. Galvanized steel connections tie it all together, but the heart of the structure is timber, resistant to potash's corrosive properties.

For KWH, the project lasted approximately 18 months for the main building. The end wall was erected 6 months later after the reclaimer was built and rolled inside. Ten of thousands of man hours were invested into bringing the shed to life. Behind those hours were engineers, ironworkers, crane operators, and other crews working in rhythm.

The defining feature of the building is its forest of arches, 68 massive glulam arches, each one formed from four individual pieces. These weren't small components assembled at waist height. Each double arch weighed approximately 80,000 pounds and curved gracefully with a 70-foot radius. In total, 33 of these enormous double arches required heavy lifting operations, a careful lifting procedure entailed each double half being raised using two cranes, one per assembly, with crews guiding them into position high above the ground and splicing in the air, the top connections.

Before they ever rose into place, each double half-arch was meticulously assembled using steel splice connections. Every arch line, including the splices required 12,500 rivets, and across the entire project, nearly 1.7 million rivets were installed.