Oakridge Co-op demolition documentation

The Brief

4 stages of demolition beside a store that stayed open

Calgary Co-op's Oakridge site is being rebuilt in phases. Elan Construction had already delivered the new 53,427 sq ft food store, which opened in March 2025. With that store trading, the building it replaced came down.

Elan brought us in with Priestly Demolition and Calgary Co-op to document the takedown. The work was planned around material recovery rather than speed, so the story was as much about what left the site sorted as what came down.

The schedule set the shape of the job. 4 site visits across the summer of 2025, each timed to a different stage: early demolition, above-grade structural, below-grade, and final grading. Months, not a shoot week.

On Site

Aerial and ground coverage from intact building to graded pad

We covered the sequence end to end. The first aerials record the centre intact, stores trading and the lot full. The last record a cleared, graded pad with the equipment lined up on it.

Ground coverage tracked Priestly's machines through the structure: excavators running a grapple, a hydraulic shear, and a concrete pulverizer, working the red steel frame down onto the slab. We shot the shear crushing columns, the grapple sorting rubble, and the loaders cycling material into bins and dump trucks.

Steel and metals were segregated on site into Calgary Metal bins rather than mixed into the rubble stream. We documented that separation, the spotters and hi-vis crews working alongside the machines, and the orange fencing that kept the working face clear of the live lot.

Deliverables

A 1:45 film cut from 4 site visits

A 1:45 film at 1080p, branded as an Elan Construction video, built for the website and LinkedIn. Stills from every stage, inside and out, including the open-to-sky work area.

Interviews with Elan and Priestly on site, covering the intent behind the redevelopment and the methods used to take the structure down beside an operating store.