Casino Nova Scotia is located in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada, and has locations in Halifax and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Steelman Partners designed Casino Nova Scotia and its sister casino Sydney Casino.

Halifax casino

The

Casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

Nova Scotia opened a temporary location in the Sheraton Hotel Halifax on June 1, 1995. On April 24, 2000 it moved to a brand new, $100-million "Vegas-style" facility on the

downtown Halifax Downtown Halifax is the primary central business district of the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Municipality of Halifax. Located on the central-eastern portion of the Halifax Peninsula, on Halifax Harbour. Along with Downtown Dartmouth, and other de facto ...

waterfront. It was originally owned by Caesar's until October 2005, when Casino Nova Scotia was bought out by

Great Canadian Gaming Corporation Great Canadian Entertainment is a Canadian gaming, entertainment and hospitality company. Prior to its acquisition by Apollo Global Management in September 2021, the company was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and was part of the S&P/TSX Com ...

. When the Casino was sold to Great Canadian Gaming the affiliated Sheraton Hotel was sold separately to the

Marriott Corporation Marriott Corporation was a hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993, founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, Marriott Corporation opened its first hotel in Arlington County, Virginia, Ar ...

. In 2007, workers at the casino voted in favor of organizing a

labour union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

. The casino has 650 slots and table games. There is an attached 550-car

parkade A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

, including 14 wheelchair-accessible spaces. The casino is connected via

pedway Pedways (short for pedestrian walkways) are elevated or underground walkways, often connecting urban high-rises to each other, other buildings, or the street. They provide quick and comfortable movement from building to building, away from traffi ...

to the

Marriott Marriott may refer to: People *Marriott (surname) Corporations * Marriott Corporation, founded as Hot Shoppes, Inc. in 1927; split into Marriott International and Host Marriott Corporation in 1993 * Marriott International, international hotel ...

Halifax Harbourfront, formerly the Casino Nova Scotia Hotel and Sheraton Hotel Halifax. The pedway also connects to

Purdy's Wharf Purdy's Wharf is an office complex in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Built over the water at the edge of Halifax Harbour and resting on pilings, it consists of two office towers, and a smaller office structure called Purdy's Landing. The comple ...

Scotia Square Scotia Square is a commercial development in the downtown core of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was built in the late sixties to mid seventies and is managed by Crombie REIT. It is connected to the Downtown Halifax Link and serves as a major ...

, and the downtown core.

Restaurants and lounges

There are several drinking and dining facilities in the casino, including nightly buffets and Sunday Brunch buffet in the 3Sixty Buffet Restaurant, casual dining and live entertainment in the 3Sixty Lounge, and concerts, conventions and other attractions in the Compass Room and the Schooner room.

Structural engineering

Engineered by BMR of Halifax, the casino has been described as one of the most complicated in the company's history. The size of the site meant that part of the building was built over water 70 feet deep (at its deepest point). Most of the land that the casino occupies had been created years earlier when that part of

Halifax Harbour Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax largely owes its existence to the harbour, being one of the largest and deepest ice-free natural harbo ...

was infilled with loose rock and excavation material from other

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

sites — reclaimed land was too soft to serve as a stable building

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

. BMR overcame the problem by engineering a design which incorporated driving

caissons Caisson (French for "box") may refer to: * Caisson (Asian architecture), a spider web ceiling * Caisson (engineering), a sealed underwater structure * Caisson (lock gate), a gate for a dock or lock, constructed as a floating caisson * Caisson (pe ...

through the fill material and into the

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

below. Then, using a specially designed doughnut-shaped

pile cap A pile cap is a thick concrete mat that rests on concrete or timber piles that have been driven into soft or unstable ground to provide a suitable stable foundation. It usually forms part of the deep foundation of a building, typically a multi-sto ...

as a support system, the engineers worked with the form work

contractor A contractor is a person or company that performs work on a contract basis. The term may refer to: Business roles * Defense contractor, arms industry which provides weapons or military goods to a government * General contractor, an individual o ...

to hang the casino's floor structure on the supporting caissons like a huge wharf.BMR Structural Engineering

Sydney casino

Casino Nova Scotia added a sister casino in Sydney on August 1, 1995. The casino, located on George St. in downtown Sydney, was constructed as an addition to the city's

Centre 200 Centre 200 is Cape Breton's primary sports and entertainment facility, located in Sydney, Nova Scotia. It is home to the QMJHL's Cape Breton Eagles. Besides ice hockey, the arena hosts many other events, such as rock concerts, figure skating, an ...

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