St. Joseph’s Health Centre

Mental Health Emergency Services Unit

We consulted with hospital clinical staff, the architect and best practices documentation in the field of Mental Health design in order to provide tamper-proof and anti-ligature versions of M&E devices and services in all patient rooms.

Our project scope was the complete redevelopment of the existing Mental Health Emergency Services Unit. This involved upgrading and modernizing the unit in order to support eight patient rooms, (the previous unit had only three patient rooms).

New, energy-efficient LED lighting fixtures, complete with dimming controls, replaced the old, inefficient fluorescent lighting fixtures. Remote patient room controls, located at the Nurses’ Station, allow clinical staff to control the electrical receptacle in each patient’s room, the smart glass on the room’s door/window, as well as the room’s lighting fixture, including remote-controlled dimming. A modern real-time locating system was also provided; it includes patient tracking, staff duress and patient wandering functionality. Note: This project was honoured with a 2020 Toronto IES Illumination Section Award

More than 30 IP-based security cameras were installed, including two cameras in each patient room. These are viewable from computers at the Nurses’ Station.

One of the challenges of the project was that the hospital did not have a viable existing IT room to house all the new voice/data infrastructure. As a result, we had to design a new IT room on the floor below the renovation area to support the new unit and future Emergency Department redevelopment. This was done during construction; therefore, the design and coordination were fast-tracked and subsequently completed successfully.

Also, remote patient room controls were not well defined throughout the design process. During construction, we had to quickly coordinate with several vendors, each with a proprietary system, in order to provide a solution that the contractor could execute.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Communications and Security Design | Lighting Design

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Tamper-proof and anti-ligature M&E services | Design of remote room controls to provide enhanced staff safety and minimizing disturbance to patients | Fast-track design of IT room was required during construction stage

Remotely located controls

This approach provides increased staff security and convenience, and minimizes disturbance to patients.

Optimal visibility

A new security and communications design allows safe observation of patient activities from a secure staff area.

Ontario Ministry of Health

Ontario Agency for Health Protection & Promotion (OAHPP)
(Sheila Basrur Centre)

Following the 2003 SARS outbreak, Public Health Ontario needed a site to bring together academic, clinical, public health and government experts on infection control and prevention. HH Angus was instrumental in providing a high quality, energy-saving workplace to meet LEED-CI Silver standards, key to highlighting PHO's commitment to sustainable practices.

A new 250kW natural gas-fired generator installed on the roof is the heart of the command centre. Its purpose is to exclusively back up the Electrical and Supplemental HVAC systems serving the command centre. As the area has unusual 416/240V service, special voltage requirements were engineered to facilitate both lighting and power equipment. Harmonic-type transformers provided clean, non-distorted power to two distribution panels, 80KVA UPS, receptacle, lighting panels and HVAC units. The 80KVA UPS unit provides 30 minutes of non-interrupted power to the command centre to allow the generator to start and reach full load capacity.

Since the original building did not meet LEED HVAC requirements, we provided detailed and well-thought-out designs to meet LEED criteria. High efficiency fixtures reduced the burden on city water supply and waste water systems. In addition, lighting was a major component for the LEED-CI Silver criteria, with glare and contrast ratio control, linear fluorescent direct/indirect lighting systems, LED downlights, and daylight harvesting.

Information technology infrastructure was key to the successful long-term functioning of this facility. The infrastructure included telecommunications rooms, conduits, cable support systems and structured cabling systems. The IT rooms house all of the building’s telecommunications fiber optics and copper backbone systems, horizontal cabling system and networking equipment, including telephone, data and video services. In the meeting spaces, the large display wall is intended for daily presentation requirements but, in the case of an emergency response scenario, the room will serve as a 24x7 mission critical war room.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Communications Design | Lighting Design

PROJECT FEATURES
Status: Completed 2009 | 40,000 ft2 | 250kW natural gas generator for emergency back up power | 416/240 volt service required special engineering for lighting and power | 80 KVA UPS

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
250kW natural gas-fired generator | Achieving LEED requirements, particularly for HVAC and Lighting | IT infrastructure

Peel Regional Police

Headquarters Renovation

The renovation project customized this building for policing and admin functions. Originally, the building had been designed for pharmaceutical research labs and support spaces.

HH Angus was engaged to provide M&E and IMIT consulting engineering for the partial renovation of this existing Peel Regional Police facility. The building has a gross area of ~ 91,000 ft2, with the renovated area totaling ~ 70,000 ft2.

The project involved replacing two boilers and heat pumps, along with the installation of a new make-up air unit on the roof. These service the entire building’s hydronic heating, while the new make-up air unit serves the basement area. As well, part of the contract was to upgrade mechanical systems to suit new load, due to changes in office floor layout and function.

Among the challenges of the project was the requirement for multiple site surveys in order to confirm the existing equipment on site. The project was also completed under a very aggressive schedule in order to meet the targeted occupancy date.

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

PROJECT FEATURES
Renovated space size: 70,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2019

LOCATION
Peel Region, GTA, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Extensive mechanical upgrades and replacements | Multiple site surveys to overcome lack of as-built drawings | Fast-track schedule

Exterior of Peel Regional Police Headquarters

Images courtesy of CS&P Architects Inc.

Niagara Health System

ICAT Strategy

“Angus Connect’s approach to developing the ICAT Design Program for the new South Niagara Hospital was both forward-looking and grounded in reality, giving us a solid foundation as we move into Stage 3 of our redevelopment project. We really appreciated their fresh perspective on emerging technology, and in-depth knowledge of the opportunities and risks inherent in these types of projects.”

Sime Pavlovic, CIO, Niagara Health

Niagara Health (NH) operates five hospitals and community care facilities in the Niagara Region, serving a diverse population of nearly half a million people and the second highest percentage of seniors aged 65+ in Ontario. The new South Niagara Hospital is expected to consolidate three of the existing sites into a state-of-the-art facility located south of Niagara Falls.

Angus Connect was engaged to help NH achieve their ICAT vision by translating the future state vision into a forward-looking and feasible ICAT design program which could be easily translated into Project Specific Output Specifications (PSOS) as part of Stage 3. Niagara Health was able to capitalize on a unique opportunity, having recently constructed the new St. Catharines Site hospital (2013) which incorporated many current ICAT solutions at the time – the lessons learned from this redevelopment project were addressed as part of the ICAT design program, along with governance and change management recommendations.

In order to complete this work, we participated in the development of the ICAT vision and principles, then developed evaluation criteria and prioritization of ICAT solutions. Our team took a novel approach to stakeholder engagement, categorizing technology options as bronze, silver or gold in order to indicate various levels of implementation and to stimulate productive discussion regarding the functional requirements and use cases for clinical, business and building systems. The output from these sessions was summarized into solution profiles which detailed system requirements, key outcomes & performance indicators, governance, change management strategies, potential risks and challenges (along with mitigation measures), and proposed scope to support Stage 3 documentation.

Finally the ICAT solutions were mapped onto an eight-year implementation plan which addressed both pre-construction and post-construction activities, in addition to those in scope for the redevelopment project. Our team also generated a comprehensive budget cost estimate which included evaluation of potential funding sources based on our previous experience working on Infrastructure Ontario and MoHLTC-funded projects.

SERVICES
ICAT Strategy | Planning, Design and Compliance (PDC)

PROJECT FEATURES
Status: Completed 2020 | Multi-site hospital system which competes with US hospitals due to its proximity to the border | Unique opportunity to incorporate into the design program lessons learned from recent construction of St. Catharines Site hospital

LOCATION
Niagara Region, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Angus Connect successfully delivered a detailed ICAT Design Report in less than three months, including a roadmap, equipment planning and budget cost estimates | Angus Connect presented its findings from the ICAT design at the Niagara Health Innovation Conference in February 2020

Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico

TecNano Academic Building

TecNano is a proposed new academic building that combines a variety of lab spaces containing co-working environments. The intent is to support a highly interactive and collaborative research experience within the biotech lab building.

Tecnológico de Monterrey is a multi-campus private university in Monterrey, Mexico. The university has grown to 36 campuses throughout Mexico, with the Monterrey campus serving as its flagship institution.

HH Angus was engaged to provide ICAT (information, communications and automation technology) design services for a proposed new building, the TecNano Academic Building. The IT design scope included a main data centre with a subsidiary data centre dedicated to Multiomics. The IT design was based on a stacked central riser, with main and redundant facility entrances from the street and from the rear, connecting to the campus backbone. Wi-Fi would be available throughout the building, with lab benches and overhead carriers providing wired data connections.

The building design required an innovative solution to locating the IT backbone. We designed a riser in the exterior channel up the north side of the building to facilitate the open-air atrium as well as a stacked riser.

The security scope included access control, CCTV, duress alarms, and a central guard station with CCTV monitoring. The facility was designed with medium to high security measures, and featured dual factor credentials for specific lab entrances. There was one clean room with anteroom, and several isolation and pressurized anteroom labs, all requiring interlock and high-speed overhead doors.

Physical security also presented challenges. Intended to be welcoming, safe and secure, the facility was designed to be open to the campus on the North side and to act as a gateway to the campus from the street on the South side. We provided glass high-speed entrance portals for entrance circulation. The solution also had to function well in Monterrey’s extreme environment. Working with the architect, we provided a safe, secure, and high-speed portal that would be protected from the elements by the atrium ceiling high overhead.

The AV systems included a public auditorium with distance learning and lecture capture, video conferencing-enabled faculty boardroom, as well as AV-enabled student meeting, study, and huddle spaces. Digital signage in IP-65 enclosures provided wayfinding at the entrance for the facility and campus

The TecNano Academic Building laboratory types included:

Nanophotonics

Molecular Simulation

Metallomics

Advanced Optical Microscopy

Nanostructure Synthesis

Micro and Nanofabrication

Multiscale Manufacturing

Materials Characterization

Synthetic Biology

High Throughput Bioprocesses

Microrobotics

Tissue Engineering and Bioprinting.

SERVICES
ICAT Consultant - Security, Audiovisual and Communication Design

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 25,500 m2 | Status: Design Completion 2018

LOCATION
Monterrey, Mexico

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Biotech laboratory building, including clean room and nanotechnology labs | International collaboration – Client in Mexico, Architect in United States, ICAT and Vertical Transportation consultants in Canada

Innovative solutions

An interesting challenge affected the communications design, specifically the outside plant design. When the local municipality rejected street closures to install a communications duct bank for carrier entrance cabling, we surveyed the site, the facilities, and routing together with TecNanao IT, and designed a campus-internal route to meet the carriers’ entrance to the East. While it is a much longer route, it is also simpler to permit, as it was not located within the municipal right-of-way.

Image credits: FGP Atelier