The McEwan Group

Fabbrica TD

Fabbrica's second location was designed as a take-out venue. The 4200 ft2 retail space is accessed via Toronto's underground PATH system, in the heart of the city's financial district. Fabbrica on the PATH joins its sister outlet across the hall, the McEwan grocery store.

HH Angus was engaged to provide mechanical, electrical and lighting design services for the tenant fitout of the new Fabbrica on the concourse level of the TD Centre. Fabbrica took over an existing space which required ceiling demolition in order to install new lighting and electrical systems.

Custom interior lighting was designed to attract the attention of commuters and shoppers in the PATH system. To achieve this, 3500K 12W high-colour-rendering LEDs were incorporated into the lighting design to showcase the vibrant colours of the meal offerings prepared for hungry consumers.

The project's location in the concourse level posed a design challenge to the team, due to the modest amount of ceiling and underfloor clearance. To accommodate these restrictions, HH Angus designed solutions to manage the routing of piping, conduits and drainage within the limited space.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Lighting Design

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 4,200 ft2 | Status: Completed 2018

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Limited space above and below the retail space required innovative design approaches | High Colour Rendering LEDs

Confined spaces

The space restrictions of the site, with regard to M&E infrastructure, required extensive site surveys, plus special attention being paid to obstructions in the parking levels below.

Great Canadian Gaming Corporation

Pickering Casino Resort

The Pickering Casino Resort is being built in two phases - the first includes gaming and dining facilities, and the second features an entertainment venue and hotel.

HH Angus was engaged to provide electrical engineering and design services and supporting infrastructure for security, AV, IT/communications, and lighting for this 330,000 ft2 greenfield development. When complete, the complex will include a 250-room hotel, a gaming facility accommodating approximately 2,350 slots, 100 gaming tables, 167 Live Dealer Stadium Gaming terminals, a variety of dining options, retail space, and a 2,500-seat multi-purpose performance venue.

This project was fast tracked with a very aggressive schedule. As the site previously was a field, our key challenge was to lay the infrastructure in place to support a world-class casino (power, telecom, traffic, lighting, water, civil engineering, etc.). We accomplished this task with the help of our design assist partner Guild Electric. HH Angus and Guild worked very closely from Day One to represent the client at all levels of design. Together, we approached the utility companies, vendors, and supply chain to ensure we could achieve the aggressive schedule.

Among the key electrical engineering elements are:

Encapsulated below-grade generator room and main electrical distribution
Campus electrical distribution system is fully concrete encased below the casino floor. This required a high level of coordination prior to the concrete pour
Intelligent and fully addressable lighting control system. Utilized for aesthetics, security, and life safety
Strategic early works planning and coordination with electrical utility to allow temporary power and permanent power to derive from the same service; this was a significant cost saving for the owner
Emergency power distribution supplemented by uninterruptible power supplies ensure the casino and critical services can continue to operate independently of the utility grid for a prolonged period of time
2000+ security cameras and necessary IT infrastructure was designed to support access control, intrusion, CCTV, panic duress, coordination with OPP and AGCO.

SERVICES
Electrical Engineering | IMIT Consulting | Lighting Design | Feasibility Study

PROJECT FEATURES

Design/Build | Fast Track (Design Assist) | 330,000 ft2 greenfield development | Strategic early works planning resulted in cost savings for client | Status: Phase 1 completion 2021, Phase 2 completion estimated 2023

LOCATION
Pickering, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS

Gaming facility, hotel and performance venue | Solar carport and parkade EV charging | Emergency power and UPS for prolonged power supply independent of utility grid | 2000+ security cameras

Sustainability features

Parking amenities include a solar carport and integrated EV charging stations. HH Angus worked with VCT Group on these features, designing the infrastructure to allow the photo voltaic system to tie into the electrical network. The surface parking area will accommodate approximately 1,675 cars and the parking structure will provide for another 3,000 cars.

Customer experience

Creating a seamless and luxurious customer experience was a key success factor in the project, and Angus Connect worked closely with the owner on the IT systems, which will support the customer experience and enhance the security and efficiency of the casino operations.

Images courtesy of Chris Dikeakos Architects Inc.

Ontario Gaming GTA Limited Partnership

Great Blue Heron Casino

The Great Blue Heron Casino is located on Scugog Island, northeast of Toronto. HH Angus' scope for this project included electrical engineering, security and telecommunications consulting, and lighting design.

The first phase of the project featured a 20,000 ft2 expansion of the building to house gaming machines and tables, VIP rooms, bar and lounge, washrooms, offices, kitchen and service spaces.

HH Angus designed a new feeder, connected to the existing primary service, and full distribution throughout the expanded building and new outdoor generator. Telecommunications distribution required the addition of a new room to service gaming, corporate and security functions. The existing main telecom distribution room was expanded to support new networking and server equipment. In addition to horizontal distribution, new fiber and copper backbones, and incoming fiber service from Bell, was required to service the expansion. Upgraded and expanded surveillance and access control systems service the new gaming area.

The second phase saw renovation of the existing gaming floor and bar, buffet service and seating areas. The gaming area was completely reorganized for electronic games and a new Play Smart area. The front entrance also received a face-lift and new lighting. Phase 2 leveraged the earlier expansion of the main distribution room and upgrade for telecom distribution, and expanded on the security systems upgrade. As well, it included for a new 4 storey, 116 room hotel and connecting walkway, which required a second high voltage transformer in the existing substation to support the hotel operations.

Four telecommunication rooms were added, along with fiber and copper backbone connectivity. Additional surveillance and access control were included in the hotel scope. Phase 3 is still ahead.

Among the challenges of this project was an accelerated schedule for both design and construction. One solution was to develop strategies to save time on the design side and push the coordination into the construction phase.

SERVICES
Electrical Engineering | Telecommunications and Security Consulting | Lighting Design

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 20,000 ft2 | Status: Phases 1 & 2 - Completed 2020 | Phase 3 tbd

LOCATION
Scugog Island, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS

Accelerated schedule | New 4 storey hotel and connecting walkway | Expansion of and upgrades to existing facilities, including significant expansion of telecommunications infrastructure and spaces

Meeting Challenges

A significant challenge of this project was completing all the renovations and expansions while the facility was fully operational.

Renderings courtesy of Chris Dikeakos Architects.

Ricarda’s Restaurant

The heritage building at 134 Peter Street is a four-storey brick and beam former bakery that was incorporated into a modern office tower. The tower garnered a great deal of attention when it opened for its use of a delta frame and tubular columns to stabilize the office tower.

Ricarda’s is 10,000 ft2 restaurant/retail bakery site located within the heritage portion of the building, and was a very complex project. It presented a number of constraints that challenged the M&E design team to find workable solutions on a very aggressive construction schedule.

Because the original building is governed by the Heritage Act, this added a layer of complexity in terms of specifying equipment compliant with the Act. The entire project team worked hard to find creative solutions that would allow them to deliver a very challenging project on time and on budget.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Tenant Fitout | Lighting Design

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 10,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2017

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Mechanical design developed to suit open ceiling concept within heritage portion of building | Incorporated a fire protection system | Lighting Design

Redefining Space

Another challenge was minimizing services along the ceiling so that we could maintain the interior designer’s open ceiling concept. This was particularly difficult because, while the site is on the ground floor, it has no basement, just a five-foot-high crawlspace earmarked for storage. Our design team ran drains through this space and connected them to the main building drains. We then had to add sprinklers, as the area was now deemed habitable.

Negotiating New Uses

We also negotiated these unforeseen uses with the landlord and obtain design approval for the fire protection systems, since the crawlspace was never intended for these uses.

Respecting the Vision

To maintain the open ceiling aesthetic, we ran electrical conduits through the crawlspace to route power for kitchen equipment.

Award-winning Lighting Design

Our IES Award-winning lighting featured both eco-friendly luminaires and ongoing cost savings by reducing energy consumption.

Adjacencies of mixed-use spaces challenged our design team to deliver the appropriate LED lighting solutions for dining, retail, reception, lounge and kitchen zones.

Woodbine Entertainment Group

Woodbine Casino Expansion

Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) is a longstanding and valued client of HH Angus, dating back to the late 1980s. Through successful projects at Woodbine over the years, and the development of a strong relationship, we are privileged to serve as a trusted advisor.

Woodbine Racetrack is home to Ontario Lottery & Gaming’s (OLG) most successful revenue generating facility. One of the challenges in providing services for this site is the uncompromising need to keep all services fully operational at all times. The system must provide total redundancy for 24/7 operation of the slot floor area and associated support spaces. When required, we provide around-the-clock service to minimize disruptions.

WEG’s “1 West Expansion” saw a former storage space renovated to accommodate 1000 new gaming floor slot machines, complementing the 2000-slot installation we had previously designed during original base building and fit out. The expansion required all new mechanical and electrical (M&E) services.

The slots expansion included significant upgrades to the electrical service, which had to be brought a long distance from the main electrical room. The new distribution was sized to handle all the new games, audio/visual equipment, surveillance equipment, lighting and general power loads. We also upgraded the emergency power system and synchronized the generators while, at the same time, maintaining the same level of available emergency power.

Other major projects at Woodbine have included:

On-track lighting for Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing
Replacement of the steam boiler plant with three 5,000,000 BTU/h (input) high efficiency boilers and two 1,200,000 BTU/h (input) high efficiency boilers
Base building improvements to escalator, kitchen, grandstands
Responsible Gaming offices
‘Backstretch Barn’ renovations
‘Backstretch’ domestic water service
Generator system upgrade

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering

PROJECT FEATURES
Status: Ongoing

LOCATION
Vaughan, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Renovated storage space to accommodate 1000 new gaming floor slot machines | Critical up-time requirement to keep all services fully operational around the clock

Renovating dining spaces

The expansion also contains an 80-seat casual dining area featuring “Willows Restaurant” and “Willows Noodle Bar”.