McMaster University

Trigeneration Plant

HH Angus was initially engaged to perform a Detailed Engineering Study to determine the viability of installing a natural gas-fired turbine for power and steam generation, and the use of absorption cooling to balance out steam production in the warmer months.

For a full year, we reviewed heating, cooling and electrical power loading at McMaster University. We also reviewed operating costs covering maintenance, operating and natural gas costs, and completed a sensitivity analysis of gas and power pricing variances. Capital and Operating budgets were also prepared to determine ROI on the proposed investment.

Following the Detailed Engineering Study, we were engaged to design the new trigeneration plant using a gas turbine (5.4 MW) coupled with an HRSG (Heat Recovery Steam Generator), natural gas compressor, absorption chiller (1000 tons) and centrifugal chiller (2500 tons). The plant was installed in the existing central utility plant room, and significant demolition of redundant equipment was undertaken to generate the space for this system upgrade.

There were a number of interesting challenges associated with the work:

Selective demolition of two existing steam boilers, two existing incinerators and one 5,000 ton electric centrifugal chiller including isolation of services and asbestos abatement to not impact existing plant operations
Fitting this large equipment into an area with significant space constraints
Creating a path of ingress for the equipment from outside into the sub-grade basement level of the plant for installation during winter months where the weather would be unpredictable
Minimizing the impact on daily operations within the plant during the demolition and construction phases.
Integration and coordination with a switchgear replacement project running in parallel with the cogeneration project
Targeting a completion date of October, 2017 to ensure the client would receive full IESO funding for the project

Some of our solutions included:

Thorough surveys of existing equipment and services to ensure the equipment slated for demolition could be isolated from the operating plant with minimal to no service interruption
Engaging with equipment suppliers at an early date to ensure required footprints were allocated
Coordinating with the structural engineers to design a removable roof cap that could be installed prior to the existing roof being cut open to allow equipment installation
On-going coordination with plant staff during the design phase to get buy-in of any modifications required to the existing plant
Pre-tendering long lead item equipment to ensure on-site delivery dates would meet the construction schedule

By designing to eliminate potential interferences or issues with installation, we were able to meet the delivery targets and deliver a successful project.

SERVICES
Prime Consultant | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering

PROJECT FEATURES
Status: Completed 2017

LOCATION
Hamilton, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Year-long detailed engineering study | Reviewed heating, cooling and electrical power loading | Study included sensitive analysis of gas and power pricing variances | Introduced new design for trigeneration plant usage, a gas turbine (5.4MW) coupled with an HRSG, natural gas compressor, absorbtion chiller and centrifugal chiller

Queen’s University

Richardson Stadium Revitalization

HH Angus has a long and valuable relationship with Queen’s University, covering numerous projects across a range of buildings and services at the campus, including new build, renovations, expansions and district energy scopes of service.

In 2014, Queen’s began a revitalization of its premier sports facility, Richardson Stadium, and engaged HH Angus to provide mechanical and electrical engineering to the Revitalization project.

Our scope of work included mechanical and electrical design for the new East Building and renovated West Building; and electrical power design for the East and West Buildings, plus field lighting.

The Stadium work was executed in two phases: Phase One was the Feasibility Study and Phase Two covered the project implementation. To launch Phase One, system options and minimal requirements were confirmed with the University’s Facilities team in Kingston. There was also a series of meetings with the Construction Manager and primary trades to confirm the basis of the original estimates and to discuss the impact of system options.

Phase Two incorporated a value engineering exercise to develop alternative project phasing plans to maintain the budget. A final mechanical and electrical Schematic Design report was prepared following the value engineering exercise. Under Phase Two, HH Angus was retained to carry the project through from Design Development to Construction Administration.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering

PROJECT FEATURES
Status: Completed 2016

LOCATION
Kingston, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Electrical power design & field lighting for East and West buildings | Work executed in two phases, Feasibility Study (Phase 1) and Project Implementation (Phase 2)

Tyndale University College & Seminary

Mother House Renovations

This project centred on the renovation of an existing structure that dated from the late 1950s for new occupancy. The building was formerly home to a Catholic nunnery. Vatican approval was required to transfer the campus from Catholic to Protestant hands, and a key reason for the approval was Tyndale’s commitment to continue to protect the nunnery’s aesthetically significant chapel as “sacred space”.

HH Angus’ scope for this project included upgrades to major mechanical and electrical infrastructure, addition of a fire protection system, and life safety system upgrades. Existing vertical transportation systems were upgraded to meet current standards.

Upgrades to the mechanical infrastructure systems were designed to accommodate future capacity increases, and are expandable to suit planned renovations and additions in other areas of the building.

A chiller replacement was required as the first stage of the renovation. This was necessary due to the phase out of R-11 refrigerant, as well as the chiller being at life cycle end. The replacement was fast-tracked and equipment pre-purchased in order to meet the schedule.

The chilled water plant was provided with an optimization control package and integrated with cooling tower and circulating pumps variable speed drives for improved operational efficiency.

Among the challenges of this project was a short construction schedule. Access to the site was very limited, due to presence of occupants, which limited survey work. As well, the budget was firmly set, so creative solutions were required to ensure that the building would be ready for occupancy when the academic year began. These solutions included:

Hybrid heating system utilizing existing steam and hot water generation
Temporary power to permit continued occupancy during construction
Pre-tendering all long lead components
Phasing planning and upfront design for future building expansion and renovation

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Vertical Transportation Consultant

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: Mother House: approx. 286,540 ft2; Tyndale High School: approx. 83,680 ft2 | Status: Completed 2015

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Upgrades to major mechanical and electrical infrastructure | Addition of fire protection (sprinkler) system & life safety system upgrades

Ensuring continued operations

The Administration wing of building remained occupied and fully operational during construction.

Rebate application assistance

HH Angus applied for incentives with Toronto Hydro on the Owner’s behalf. The project was eligible for a rebate from the Save-ON-Energy program.

Tyndale Library - Give Credit to CS&P Architects

— Photos courtesy of CS&P Architects

Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson)

Mattamy Athletic Centre

This redevelopment project included a 225,632 ft2 athletic facility incorporating an NHL-sized ice rink with seating for 2,796, a multi-purpose court with 1,000+ seats, a fitness centre, studios and a high performance gym.

Elevating devices in this facility are readily available for public use and consist of two passenger elevators and three escalators. One large freight elevator (suitable for moving the ice-resurfacer) and a single Type B Material Lift were provided to manage the material handling requirements of the facility.

HH Angus provided Vertical Transportation Design Consulting to assist the architect in the design and selection of elevating devices for the Toronto Metropolitan University portion of this facility.

Photo credit: Toronto Metropolitan University

SERVICES
Vertical Transportation Design

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 225,632 ft2 | Status: Completed 2012

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
2 passenger elevators | 3 escalators | l large freight elevator | Type B Material Lift

University of Waterloo

Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum Nano Centre

To understand how small a single nanometre is (one billionth of a metre), one hair on your head is approximately 80,000 nanometres in diameter. A strand of your DNA is only 2 nanometres wide.

The Quantum Nano building features state-of the-art laboratories for Nanotechnology research, ion and atom trapping, nuclear magnetic resonance, low temperature superconductivity, quantum optical research and a suite of clean rooms for fabrication and testing of quantum and nanotechnology devices.

The building was not just innovative, it was completely unique in Canada. The type of research, science and learning taking place here is at the leading edge of nanotechnology science.

With rapid advances in science, HH Angus had to be proactive to ensure that the building’s lab infrastructure was flexible enough to serve both today’s researchers and future scientific endeavours.

We continued to collaborate and communicate long after our formal role on the project had ended. There were significant challenges in the operation of such a sensitive and complex building. We extended our involvement to train the Centre's operations staff and teach them how to tune the systems. For well over a year of support, we taught and solved issues that resulted in no changes to the design, simply passing on the knowledge of how to operate the building and how to diagnose clues to optimize performance. HH Angus’ dedicated team of engineers sees each of our building projects as a legacy for our client.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Security & Communications | Vertical Transportation Design

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 285,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2013

LOCATION
Waterloo, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Flexible design to serve future lab programs | Precision temperature control | UPS | Filtered electrical power

Ground-breaking facilities

The Quantum Nano Centre and its infrastructure is recognized as a ground-breaking building able to support ground-breaking research, teaching and science.

Design excellence

The highly technical facility required not only high precision temperature, humidity, filtered electrical power, uninterrupted power supplies, but also the mechanical, electrical and communications infrastructure that would meet the architectural and structural requirements.

Stakeholder involvement

This project was executed under the watchful eyes of multiple stakeholders. There was ongoing collaboration between the building department, university user groups and supervisors, international leaders in quantum computing and nanotechnology, as well as donors.