WPP

Toronto Waterfront Campus

WPP Group's building is part of the largest urban revitalization project in North America, bringing together new businesses, restaurants, and transport connections.

Work Design Magazine March 28, 2023

This cutting-edge project on Toronto’s downtown waterfront represents an evolution in commercial office development and reinvents how employees work together in Toronto’s rapidly evolving creative and technology sectors. The new space merges a large number of WPP’s operating companies and 2,000 employees into the top seven floors of the Waterfront Innovation Centre at the city’s iconic ‘Sugar Beach’. HH Angus provided engineering consulting services for this 250,000 ft2 tenant fitout project. WPP is the anchor tenant for the Waterfront Innovation Centre.

The fitout included raised floors for underfloor HVAC systems and is targeting LEED Platinum certification. On each floor, the design features a café, hub and IT equipment room, with one single Main Communications Room.

The 8th floor has a custom production area with very specific acoustic requirements. Our mechanical team worked closely with the acoustical consultant to provide a design that meets the strict acoustic requirements for video and audio production and recording. This was achieved through careful placement of fan-powered boxes equipped with silencers. The production area includes multimedia studios, photo studios and a print lab. Lighting control for these rooms is enhanced with tunable lighting, allowing users to adjust the colour temperature in real time.

The 10th floor is the client-facing floor and includes meeting rooms with fully-integrated AV, smart lighting control, open ceiling design concept (industrial design), a large point-of-sale catering kitchen with back of house facilities and an outdoor terrace.

Our communications team designed several interconnecting fibre risers to provide the client with the most cost effective solution and full redundancy to meet their current and future needs, and to ensure the system will continue to operate in the event of external critical failures.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Communications Design

PROJECT FEATURES
250,000 ft2 colocation project unifying 28 different companies | Seven-floor fitout | Status: Completed 2022

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
WELL design principles | Pressurized raised floor systems with underfloor HVAC systems | Rigorous acoustic requirements for audio and video recording | Redundant interconnecting communications fibre risers to ensure system will operate in the event of external critical failures

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

Hudson Pacific Properties

Burrard Exchange

Burrard Exchange adds to HH Angus’ growing portfolio of commercial, healthcare and mission critical work in Vancouver and the broader BC region.

In September 2021, Hudson Pacific Properties, in partnership with Blackstone Real Estate, unveiled plans for the addition of a hybrid mass timber 16-storey office and retail development to downtown Vancouver’s Bentall Centre, adding 450,000 ft2 of office and retail space within the complex.

Once approved, the new building, called Burrard Exchange, will be one of North America’s tallest exposed mass timber office buildings. The mass timber construction technique will support the project’s sustainability goals and reduce embodied carbon.

HH Angus is providing mechanical and electrical engineering, IT/communications, and energy modeling consulting services for this exciting new commercial project. Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates is the design architect and Adamson Associates Architects is the architect of record.

"Our team is excited to be part of this project for a number of reasons." said Kevin O’Neill, Commercial Division Director at HH Angus: "That the project will set a new benchmark for green construction in Vancouver and the innovative use of mass timber are key highlights for us. We’re thrilled to be working with Hudson Pacific Properties, KPF and Adamson Associates on this development."

To read Hudson Pacific Properties’ full press release, click here.

HH Angus provided consulting engineering services to another timber project completed in 2020 – Oakville Fire Station 8 – which used cross-laminated timber in its construction. One of the special considerations of using timber is that it requires both expertise and unusually close coordination between the M&E designers and the structural designers since, unlike drywall, wood openings cannot be adjusted once cut.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | IT/Communications Design | Energy Modeling

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 450,000 ft2 | Office/Retail Development | Reduced embodied carbon when operational | Status: Completion TBA

LOCATION
Vancouver, British Columbia

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Hybrid mass timber |16 storeys

Mass Timber Construction

Burrard Exchange will be Hudson Pacific Properties’ first mass timber development and builds on the momentum of other mass timber projects in British Columbia.

Renderings courtesy of Hudson Pacific Properties

AstraZeneca

Tenant Fitout

"The goal of AstraZeneca's iWORK workplace strategy is to create facilities that meet expectations of how a great place to work should look and feel."

AZ Workplace Strategy Guidelines

A further goal of the fitout was to use available space more efficiently to create more collaborative, vibrant working environments to achieve a science-driven, patient-focused culture and mindset.

HH Angus provided M&E consulting engineering and IMIT communications design to the project, which presented a number of interesting challenges requiring thoughtful solutions. Among the challenges was an aggressive schedule. The team worked efficiently and collaboratively to meet the project deadlines.

The project did not allow for core drilling to feed workstations or standalone furniture. To address this, the design team and engineers had to be strategic in using perimeter and under-carpet raceways to conceal wiring. A new lighting design was implemented throughout the 5th floor, and provided a sophisticated wireless lighting control system, complete with daylight harvesting and an occupancy setting, independent of the base building control system.

During the schematic design phase, our team noted several deficiencies within the existing base building system affecting the project’s location. We requested the team have a complete site audit done by a local air balancing contractor, which identified several issues with duct connections, system operation and controls. Through this process, we were able to rectify many issues prior to the close-out phase of our project. This resulted in an efficient transition for the client, saving them both time and money.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | IMIT Consulting

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 72,000 ft2 designed for two floors of tenant fitout (one floor constructed) | Status: Completed 2021

LOCATION
Mississauga, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Open floor layout accommodated despite base building risers | Base building deficiencies identified, saving client time and money | Team exceeded contract obligations in protecting client from added costs due to COVID pandemic and to ensure timely project completion

Open concept design

The client had expressed a preference for an open floor layout; however, several of the base building risers were in locations not conducive to the planned interior design. In order to accommodate the client’s wishes, we proactively identified a new shaft location, and re-routed various systems to deliver the floor layout desired by the client.

Pandemic response

The COVID 19 pandemic began in the midst of construction. The project team reacted immediately during these challenging times by providing effective and responsive coordination virtually. The team worked through construction-related delays, and helped mitigate supply distribution delays by using local contacts to expedite shipping to meet the client-requested deadlines.