After engineering delays and other issues, Assiniboine Park’s latest building has hit a major milestone.

Beginning construction in 2019, The Leaf’s glass exterior is finally done.

The Leaf will be an indoor garden attraction, featuring plants from around the world—and is to be the centrepiece of Assiniboine Park’s Diversity Gardens.

Completing the building’s shell wasn’t without difficulty. Design issues and seasonal weather delayed crews from finishing the unique sloped roof made from a special transparent ETFE material.

“We are so excited to reach this next critical milestone of getting the roof on,” said Margaret Redmond, president and CEO of the Assiniboine Park Conservancy.

“We sort of hit a perfect storm over the last two years where we were trying to address the engineering challenges we had with putting the roof on and then, of course, the pandemic hit.”

With the outside now complete, the Assiniboine Park Conservancy is showing off some of The Leaf’s features.

A special diamond-shaped steel tower at its centre will host an 18-metre indoor waterfall.

The Conservancy also noted the building uses eco-friendly technologies like geothermal heating and evaporative cooling.

Keeping with the theme of sustainability, wood from the elm trees chopped down to make room for the building will be used on the walls and glass from the old conservatory, which closed in 2018, will be embedded in the concrete floors.

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