Government of Canada

This medium security institution is comprised of thirteen buildings with a capacity to house 400 residents, and provisions to incorporate another 100-bed unit.

The 260,000 ft2 facility includes: four residences, gatehouse, chapel, family visiting centre, a facility to accommodate industrial work, a building to house resident programs, a detention/segregation/health care centre, an administrative base cogeneration facility and a correspondence/visiting building.

HH Angus was responsible for the full mechanical and electrical design, as well as the site services package. Our scope of work included: sewers, wastewater pumping, stormwater collection, water mains, fire protection system, pumping and mains, central cogeneration and district heating plant, central emergency power generation, normal and emergency power distribution, communications distribution and site lighting.

The institution is located on an environmentally sensitive site, adjacent to a smaller minimum security institution. HH Angus undertook detailed studies to ensure that the impact of the facility on the surroundings would be as minimal as possible. One of the results this study was the realization that the planned on-site water supply and sewage disposal was not compatible with the commitment to environmental concerns. To address this, six kilometres of sewage and water mains were extended to the nearby town of Gravenhurst.

We also conducted a load-displacement cogeneration feasibility study as part of this project. The study concluded that cogeneration would be a worthwhile addition for this facility. The system consisted of:

• an 850 kW natural gas-fired reciprocating engine with engine coolant and exhaust gas heat recovery, coupled to a district heating system
• two dual fuel flex tube hot water boilers to provide supplementary heat
• variable speed secondary pumps to distribute hot water to the thirteen site buildings through a pre-insulated buried steel piping system.