Oakridge Centre

Redevelopment

Vancouver's Oakridge Centre is a visionary mixed-use redevelopment of approximately 4.3 million square feet, plus residential areas. The work will be completed in two phases and will encompass a vibrant mix of retail, office, residential, cultural, and civic spaces, along with a landscaped rooftop park.

HH Angus provided fire protection Engineer of Record design services for approximately 2.5 million ft2 of the retail, parkade and service areas, as well as peer review of the central plant engineering.

An interesting aspect of our project scope is the multiple water parcels and phasing, which meant needing to design each section with expansion in mind. Our project design work is being completed entirely in Revit, with a program called Autosprink that allows us to place the sprinkler heads and then connect them to provide highly-detailed hydraulic calculations. This involves laying out heads, branches and mains, and performing all calculations to present for sprinkler permits. The design also includes multiple fire pumps and a back-up cistern to store water on-site for use in the event of waterflow emergency.

The project requires a strong focus on effective communication. Our team's seamless collaboration with multiple partners and consultants through open and inclusive communication channels encouraged the flow of information and ideas, fostering creative problem-solving and innovative solutions. These often required coming up with alternative code-compliant solutions.

Despite only joining the project during design development, we successfully applied cutting-edge software and project management techniques to deliver our assigned scope within the designated time frame. As a result, we have been awarded additional project scope and the opportunity to further contribute to the overall success of the project.

SERVICES
Fire Protection, Phase 1A & B | District energy plant peer review

PROJECT FEATURES
2,600 residences | Office space for 3,000 workers across multiple towers | 2.5 million ft2 of retail, parkade and service areas | Status: Completion estimated for 2027

LOCATION
Vancouver, British Columbia

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Our team's close collaboration with multiple partners and consultants through open and inclusive communication channels encouraged productive flow of information and ideas, fostering creative problem-solving and innovative solutions

Photos courtesy of Adamson Associates Architects.

Efficient resource allocation

Given the vast scale of the project, it has been important to identify critical resource needs and to optimize their deployment in order to avoid bottlenecks.

Mount Sinai Hospital

Phase 3 Redevelopment

Phase 3A represents a major renewal of the hospital's main site. HH Angus was engaged to provide mechanical and electrical engineering for the Renew Sinai redevelopment.

HH Angus worked with the Hospital, Stantec Architecture and other consultants to develop the Functional Program and Blocks Schematics for Ministry of Health and Long-term Care [MOHLTC) stages 2 and 3.1 submissions.

As part of our scope, we were involved in the investigation of existing infrastructure and systems. The age of the existing facility, together with previous renovations and multiple facility architects and consultants provided a challenge in obtaining a complete set of existing design conditions. We were provided with drawings in various forms (eg: PDFs. scanned hand-drawn images, AutoCAD and part plans), ranging from the original build to the most current renovation projects. We translated the relevant information into AutoCAD and, in with numerous site investigations, assembled a comprehensive set of record drawings detailing the existing systems and functions.

The scope of the project included a new Surgery Department, renovated and expanded Emergency Department, Critical Care, Medical Device Reprocessing Department, Integrated Practice Unit, Ambulatory, and labs, as well as miscellaneous relocates and decants.

Some of the key challenges of this project included reworking the major mechanical and electrical infrastructure to upgrade systems to current standards, and the integration of disparate systems with existing facilities.

Extensive renovations were implemented. To address the challenges of implementing new infrastructure, HH Angus provided extensive background information and on-site investigation to mitigate risks to the Hospital.

Minimizing disruption to hospital services was of paramount concern in scheduling the renovations. To ensure continued hospital operations, our design solution included planned sequential shutdowns minimized inconvenience to staff, patients and visitors.

Under a standing offer with Mount Sinai, we served as Mechanical and Electrical Engineers of Record and were involved in a variety of projects for Phase 3, including: peer review, fluoroscopy unit. Maternity Clinic renovation, Mouse MRI Lab, Biorepository Lab, Roth Lab, Bremner Lab, Distributed Antenna Systems, lobby upgrade, art gallery/ security/office renovations, and IMIT Planning for Phase 3 Redevelopment and renovations to multiple departments.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering

PROJECT FEATURES
New Surgery Department, renovated and expanded Emergency Department, Critical Care, MDRD, IPU, Ambulatory, Labs, as well as miscellaneous relocates and decants | Status: Ongoing

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Major redevelopment of hospital's main site | Integration of new and existing systems | Renovations to main lobby, art gallery and security IMIT

Mount Sinai ICU

Mount Sinai Endoscopy

The Co-operators

Guelph Headquarters

The Co-operators’ Headquarters in Guelph, Ontario has been certified a 'Zero Carbon Building' by the Canada Green Building Council. The project is also targeting LEED Gold and WELL Platinum.

The renovation project covers three floors totalling 226,000 ft2, and includes a data centre, cafeteria, fitness centre, conference rooms, and three-storey open atrium. HH Angus provided mechanical and electrical consulting engineering, as well as IMIT and lighting design.

The building features an all-electric design to eliminate direct carbon emissions from any on-site source. This means that the company did not need to undertake any retrofits or decarbonization plans to achieve net zero targets. The building has been designed to be highly energy-efficient and to minimize indirect annual carbon emissions from electricity.

Any remaining emissions will be offset through high-quality carbon offsets or carbon-free renewable energy sources. The construction process was also meaningfully reduced, offsetting “embodied carbon” emissions resulting from the manufacture, transportation, and disposal of all building materials.

The Canada Green Building Council has identified the building sector as Canada’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG). Presently, residential, commercial, and institutional buildings are responsible for 17% of Canada’s GHG emissions, and this figure approaches 30% when building materials and construction processes are taken into account.

Despite an aggressive construction schedule, the project overcame the challenges of integrating an all-electric design and achieving Zero Carbon Building certification. It also intended to surpass goals for energy and GHG savings beyond the Ontario Building Code’s all-electric baseline and heating load reduction minimum for new builds. The building features a rooftop solar array and a high-efficiency water source, showcasing innovative approaches to sustainable design.

The building’s low-impact features include:

Energy and GHG savings 40% greater than the Ontario Building Code’s all-electric baseline
60% reduced heating load, surpassing the minimum code requirement for new office builds requirement for new office builds
A 282 kW rooftop solar array that is expected to produce ~9% of the building’s annual total energy
Automatic window tinting to reduce glare and save energy
A highly-insulated and airtight envelope to conserve energy
High-efficiency water source technology to recover and redistribute heat throughout the building
LED lighting equipped with occupancy and daylight harvesting sensors that turn on only when needed

Read CaGBC's feature article about The Co-operators Guelph Headquarters.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | IMIT Consulting | Lighting Design

LOCATION
Guelph, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Energy and GHG savings 40% greater than all-electric OBC standard | Building designed to achieve net-zero through all-electric design, without retrofits or decarbonization | Targeting reduced embodied carbon emissions during construction, minimizing carbon footprint

Zero carbon building

The building has attained the ‘zero carbon building design standard’ certification and is pursuing LEED Gold and WELL Platinum certifications.

Carbon offsets

The company will be offsetting embodied carbon emissions resulting from construction, manufacturing, transportation and disposal of all building materials.

*Source: HOK Canada

Island Health | Infrastructure BC

Cowichan District Hospital Replacement

Three times the size of the existing facility, the new Cowichan District Hospital on Vancouver Island will reflect BC’s new model for integrated healthcare by placing patients, families and communities at the centre of care decisions throughout the continuum of care. The goal is to reduce wait times, improve care and outcomes, and provide better value for healthcare expenditures.

HH Angus is part of the design team under The EllisDon Healthcare Infrastructure Consortium, and is providing mechanical and electrical consulting engineering to the 607,000+ ft2 project. The new facility, with an estimated budget of $1.44 Billion, will have 204 private or semi-private beds to support best practices for infection prevention and control, with the capacity for increased beds as population growth warrants. The emergency department will be three times the size of the current ER and is expected to accommodate 42,000 visits by 2035. Additional services include mental health facilities featuring a 20-bed inpatient unit and dedicated ICU, culturally safe services and spaces, 7 operating rooms, increased CT scanning capacity, and built-in MRI facilities.

Island Health specified a low energy, low carbon design solution. HH Angus, working with the rest of the design team, devised a number of innovative solutions and the project is now aiming to be Canada’s first CaGBC Net Zero Carbon hospital and first fully electric hospital. As well, the project is targeting LEED Gold certification.

This is the first Alliance Project Delivery for HH Angus, with many differences from a conventional project delivery model. It is a far more collaborative process, where the owner, contractor and design team act as one entity. Both the quality of the submitted design and the ability of the team to work together were key factors in the proponent evaluation.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering

PROJECT FEATURES
Alliance project delivery model | Status: Construction completion estimated for end of 2026, and opening for patients in 2027 | 607,000+ ft2 | 204 private or semi-private beds | Mental health services with a 20-bed inpatient psychiatry unit | Culturally safe spaces and services

LOCATION
The unceded traditional territory of Cowichan Tribes, North Cowichan, British Columbia

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Targeting to be the first fully electric hospital in BC | Targeting LEED Gold | New hospital will be 30% more energy efficient and 60% more water efficient than the current hospital, with a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

Creative Energy

District Energy and Low Carbon Steam Plants

HH Angus is serving as mechanical and electrical engineers on Creative Energy's two new steam plant projects in downtown Vancouver.

For Creative Energy’s Beatty Plant, the existing gas plant is being replaced entirely by a new gas plant consisting of three 58MW and one 44MW industrial water tube boilers operating at 1.38 MPa (megapascal pressure). The boilers consist of the latest burner technology and FGR (flue gas recirculation), with guaranteed nitrogen oxide emissions of 8.5 parts per million. This plant is being built as part of Phase 1 of the new West Bank Beatty Street development. Careful phasing and design of the new plant on the existing site is required to maintain full operations of the existing plant until switchover can be completed so the plant can continue to serve its clientele of 200 buildings during the construction.

HH Angus is also working with Creative Energy in the development of their new Low Carbon Steam Plant, serving as lead mechanical engineers and medium voltage and low voltage electrical engineers.

The new steam plant is being developed in conjunction with the new West Bank Development at the intersection of Beatty St. and West Georgia and will feature electric boilers. These electric boilers are being introduced by Creative Energy as part of their low carbon strategy.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineers | Medium and Low Voltage Electrical Engineers

PROJECT FEATURES
Low carbon district energy steam plant | Part of West Bank Steam development | Status: ongoing

LOCATION
Vancouver, British Columbia

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
3 X 58MW and 1 X 44MW industrial water tube boilers | Electric boilers being installed for low carbon steam plant

Image courtesy : Parkin Architects Limited