NASSAU, Bahamas – A $23 million contract for the construction of a Straw Market to replace the one destroyed by fire on September 4, 2001, was signed between The Bahamas Government and Wooslee Dominion Construction Limited.
The Bahamian-owned company, headed by Ashley Glinton, was awarded the contract to build the Straw Market complex designed by architect Michael Foster of Arconcepts Limited.
The $23 million represents the largest sum on money ever committed to any government-constructed building by The Bahamas Government.
The new three-storey Straw Market will house approximately 600 vendors, Minister of Works, Utilities and Immigration the Hon. Bradley Roberts told vendors at the contract signing at the British Colonial Hilton.
Prime Minister the Hon. Perry G. Christie and Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Cynthia Pratt (BIS Photo: Raymond A. Bethel)
Also present were Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security the Hon. Cynthia Pratt, Minister of Tourism the Hon. Obie Wilchcombe, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service the Hon. Fred Mitchell, and Minister of Youth and Sports and Housing the Hon. Neville Wisdom.
The Hon. Bradley Roberts, Minister of Works and Utilities, signed a contract with Wooslee Dominion Construction, for the construction of the new downtown Straw Market. From left are Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Cynthia Pratt, Minister Roberts, Director of Works Melanie Roach, Ashley Glinton, President, Wooslee Dominion Construction Limited; and Maxwell Poitier, Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works and Utilities. (BIS Photo: Raymond A. Bethel)
The third floor referred to as the roof deck level will have 5,000 square feet on the Bay Street side for some business venture and 5,000 square feet for a restaurant on the harbor side. They will be major elements for revenue generation.
The straw market will have at its centre a 100 foot observation tower accessed by elevator for a panoramic experience of the city and harbor.
“The market’s overall theme is to create an interior village concept where each stall in effect would be a clapboard façade of a house with a porch, where craft-work is displayed.
“Each village will have an indigenous Bahamian name, like Grants Town, Fox Hill, Bain Town or the names of former giants who worked in the Straw Market for many years. Planter boxes with native vegetation, old town electrical lamps, brick laid floors and street signs will add an old town flavor to create the environment,” Mr. Roberts said.
The Straw Market will also have a confectionery village, a multi-purpose room and wide perimeter verandas for artists on easels.
The Minister said the Straw Market will have 36 individual toilets available to the public and the staff. The Straw Market will be 100 per cent handicap-friendly and will be 100 per cent sprinkled with a state of the art fire fighting system.
The structure will have five elevators, one dedicated for service, two for lift up to the roof deck and tower and two for lift up to the roof deck only.
Mr. Roberts said that in trying to build a new and “better” market, the government found out that the substructure of the old building was buried below the site and the new design had to be modified to delineate itself with the existing substructure grid.
However, in that exercise, it was discovered that the foundation had deteriorated as the old Straw Market had been built on old conch shells”, which over the years had decayed.
Mr. Roberts said that although the Straw Market building project will get the largest sum of money ever committed to any government-constructed building funded by the Government of the Bahamas, its position will be third in a short time.
Larger sums will go to the construction of the new Lynden Pindling International Airport and the new Princess Margaret Hospital.
Mr. Glinton, the Bahamian contractor, has been working in the construction industry for over 20 years in The Bahamas and internationally.
“Most of you, like I said, do not know me because I have been working and if more of us do that I think we will be further ahead than we are today,” he said.
Prime Minister Christie noted that Bahamians were working on the Straw Market project.
“We have a perfect example today of Bahamian empowerment. You look at the list on your program of Bahamians…..professionals who are going to make this happen. You heard the young contractor Ashley Glinton, John-Michael Clarke (quantity surveyor), George Cox (structural engineer) – all of them are listed in this program,” Mr. Christie said.
The Prime Minister said there will be no equal to Bay Street once the redevelopment of that area has been completed.
“We are moving the shipping containers because we want to expand the cruise ship capacity, where more and more will come in, and they will find their way to this wonderful experience at the Straw Market that we are building. In one place they will be able to experience the entire delights of this city.
“What they can’t touch, they can go up in the observation tower and see, and while they are seeing it they can eat. So it is going to be a kaleidoscope of experiences,” the Prime Minister said.
