Service: Lighting Design
University of Toronto
Robarts Library, Reading Room Renovation
The Robarts Library, renowned as an example of the 'Brutalist' style of architecture, stands as one of Canada's largest academic library buildings, serving as a cornerstone of scholarly pursuit at the University of Toronto.
HH Angus provided mechanical and electrical engineering services, as well as design consulting for IMIT and lighting, for the renovation of the Library's fourth floor Reading Room.
The project, aimed at modernizing the library's facilities to accommodate contemporary learning paradigms, posed several intricate challenges. One notable challenge involved the intricate design of cabling for security and telecoms within the limited capacity channels of the floor slab, while ensuring the preservation of the library's architectural integrity. Moreover, the integration of wireless thermostats for HVAC control demanded meticulous planning to guarantee effective functionality while maintaining the library's iconic aesthetic.
In response to the evolving needs of the campus community, the renovated space has been thoughtfully curated to foster a conducive environment for study, collaboration, and digital scholarship. Individual study areas, equipped with state-of-the-art digital stations and consultation rooms, offer students and faculty alike the resources they need to thrive academically. Additionally, the incorporation of light therapy zones underscores a commitment to promoting wellness and inclusivity within the Library's patrons.
Improved accessibility was a key aspect of this renovation, featuring new study spots with adjustable desk heights, versatile seating configurations, and customizable lighting options, ensuring that all user's needs are considered. As well, strategic wayfinding elements and clear sightlines have been implemented to facilitate seamless navigation throughout the revitalized space.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | IMIT Consultant | Lighting Consultant
PROJECT FEATURES
20,300 ft2 space | Accessible study areas | Integration of building systems
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
Enhanced environments
The Library renovation is a significant advancement in the modernization of an academic institution, and underscores UofT's dedication to enhancing the built environment for all users.
City of Mississauga
Burnhamthorpe Community Centre Renovation and Expansion
The Community Centre features a state-of-the-art aquatic centre as well as an equipment-based fitness centre. This is the first project designed and built to Mississauga's corporate Green Building standard. The project has also achieved Level 1 CGBS and incorporates net zero and passive house principles, a high-performance building envelope, triple glazing, and a green roof.
HH Angus played a key role in this project, providing mechanical and electrical engineering services, as well as security, IMIT, lighting, AV, and plumbing design. The addition includes a new 25-metre, 6-lane pool, therapeutic pool, fitness centre, and common areas, for a total of 43,000 ft2 of added amenities.
Renovations to the existing community centre encompass improvements across 65,000 ft2, repurposing and relocating multi-purpose program spaces, gymnasium, indoor arena, and upgrading facilities to meet accessibility and green development standards. Despite challenges posed in connecting to the existing building, the addition was situated on the northeast corner, utilizing space from the adjacent park.
To see more renovations, click here
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Plumbing Design | Lighting Design | Audio-Visual Design | Security Design | IMIT Design
PROJECT FEATURES
Green facility design to LEED Silver standard | State-of-the-art aquatic centre | Equipment-based fitness centre | Status: Completed 2024
LOCATION
Mississauga, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Project built to Mississauga's Green Building standard | Achieved Level 1 CGBC | Addition connected to existing recreation centre | Renovations and upgrades to existing building
All images courtesy of CS&P Architects
Great Canadian Entertainment
Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto
The Casino Resort site features live gaming, horse racing, entertainment, and dining on a 33-acre site in the Greater Toronto area. The venue includes two hotels, a theatre, 240 gaming tables and over 2500 electronic gaming machines.
The project consisted of 8 major components, including casino and associated food service outlets (350,000 ft2)., main gaming floor and lobbies, VIP gaming space, support/office spaces, washroom blocks, OPP offices, security offices, etc. The gaming floors feature ~ 2,575 electronic gaming machines and 240 tables. The work also included parking lots, roadways and minor greenspaces, a theatre space and two hotels, each with 400 rooms.
30+ new food service areas meant an additional 1500 pieces of equipment had to be accommodated. This additional load required supplemental electrical connections and, with 33 acres of new build, a completely new electrical feeder from Toronto Hydro.
For telecommunications distribution, HH Angus added redundant site entrance facilities, 30+ new telecoms rooms, and 2 new distribution rooms. The new facility is linked to the existing Grandstand, with the transition of various systems into the new build. A new monitoring suite for the security and surveillance group houses more than 15 operators as well as a new DVR room to service the entire site.
The project required solutions to a number of challenges, chiefly the schedule was of paramount concern for the client. The team worked under tight deadlines to ensure the casino design was completed in a timely fashion in order to welcome customers as quickly as possible. To accommodate the accelerated schedule, strategies were developed to save time during design in order to speed construction.
The fast-tracked schedule challenged communications as well, in terms of turnaround time for decisions. The design team pushed forward to achieve deadlines, but also had to devise procedures to accommodate lagging feedback. This also applied to the construction teams. HH Angus’ deep experience with the client and site enabled a “short hand” which afforded us the flexibility to leave blank areas in the design and come back to these once a decision was made. This saved design resources, and the client appreciated that assumptions were made to allow the project to keep moving forward, and that it did not interfere with our ability to modify designs when decisions were finalized.
The main challenge for the IT and security components involved integrating all stakeholder requirements from the existing Grandstand into the new facility. As these groups have varied approaches to design, our previous projects and site knowledge helped to clarify the final requirements.
The client is developing multiple casino properties throughout Ontario concurrent with the Casino Toronto project, and wanted to apply lessons learned. This created an evolving security standard and, in order to accommodate this, the HH Angus design team deferred changes as long as possible (without impacting the site) in order to reduce the need to re-issue drawings and specifications.
SERVICES
Electrical Engineering | ICAT/Security Design | Lighting Design
PROJECT FEATURES
33 acres with over 1.4 million ft2 of indoor space | Status – Current phase completed 2023
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Fast-track schedule| 30+new food service areas | Over two dozen new telecom rooms | Gaming floor engineering required the least possible impact on gaming machines to minimize downtime | IT and security components were integrated from existing grand-stand into new facility
Multi-purpose 110,00 ft2 theatre
This space houses traditional stage events, and can accommodate trade shows and sports such as centre ring (boxing) events, conferences, and celebrations. In the traditional stage configuration, the theatre features 5000 seats. The space also houses several bars and a full event kitchen. The kitchen and bars have over 150 pieces of equipment requiring specialized electrical connections with flexibility for future bar installations.
Rest and relaxation for the whole family
The 600,000 ft2 parking structure is a 6-storey parkade, with 5,500 parking spots. Both the underground parking and the parkade include EV charging stations. The underground parking encompasses the entire lower level of the Casino, both hotels and the theatre, as well as the major mechanical, electrical and IT/Security spaces. There are 5 major high voltage rooms with various smaller electrical rooms throughout, and a generator room housing three 1500kW diesel generator units, with a separate generator synchronization switchboard room.
University Health Network
Toronto General Hospital Rapid Assessment Centre (RAC) Expansion
HH Angus was engaged to provide mechanical and electrical engineering, IMIT consulting, and lighting consulting services for this 20,000 ft2 phased renovation at Toronto General Hospital. The space now includes a Rapid Assessment Centre, Diagnostic Test Centre, and Admitting and Pre-Admission Clinics.
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The emergency department (ED) was designed to serve ~ 20,000 patients annually but was receiving more than 55,000 patients To better manage these volumes, a dedicated Rapid Assessment Centre (RAC) was added so that ED staff can triage lower acuity patients to the new "fast track" area, enabling primary emergency areas to care for more complex patients. Our team worked in conjunction with the client and other consultants to perform a pre-tender constructability review. This review included potential approaches to minimize disruption outside areas of construction, identify potential installation challenges, and complete pre-demolition of the first phase of work to identify any unknown site conditions in advance of construction. Due to the age of the existing space, there was a high probability of building systems and equipment being beyond their service life, and a certainty that codes and standards relevant to the design of the new space had changed. To address this and mitigate any risks, HH Angus performed a pre-design review to identify any specific potential issues with the new space and recommend steps to further address the unknowns. Scanning and 3D captures were performed regularly throughout construction, using Matterport Pro 2 and a Theta V 360 Camera. This provided the client with regular site progress updates and, in future, will allow for dimensionally accurate references for locating MEP services behind walls and ceilings. It also allowed for a more focused presence on-site, as construction progress was made available remotely to a range of project stakeholders amid COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The existing ventilation systems presented a significant gap for the project, as their capacity to support the new functions of the space was unknown. To address this, HH Angus investigated and presented several options for review, taking into consideration the client’s budget, schedule, and planned upgrades for existing infrastructure.
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SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | IMIT Consultant | Lighting Consultant
PROJECT FEATURES
Accelerated project schedule | Status: Completed 2022
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Phased renovation | Pre-tender constructability review and pre-design review | Scanning and 3D captures to document site progress and provide dimensionally accurate site references for future access
Accelerated schedule
The project schedule was aggressive, requiring close and efficient collaboration between HH Angus, the client, and all other consultants. All construction documents and constructability reviews were completed in 12 weeks.
The Co-operators
National Headquarters
The Co-operators’ Headquarters in Guelph, Ontario has been certified a 'Zero Carbon Building' by the Canada Green Building Council. The project has also achieved LEED® Gold and WELL Platinum certifications and is pursuing BOMA Best.
The project covers three floors totaling 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
- Award-winning lighting design, including 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.
See Interior Design Magazine's feature on The Co-operators HQ,
The Co-operators Guelph Head Office project awards:
Illumination Engineering Society 'Award of Merit' 2025
Honourable Mention in the “Best New Build Project” category of the 2024 EM Honours Awards Program, which celebrates excellence in energy efficiency, proactive energy management and decarbonization
2025 Grand Valley Construction Association's 'Building Excellence' award, 'Specialty Award' for Innovation and Sustainability
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | IMIT Consulting | Lighting Design
PROJECT FEATURES
226,000 ft2 | Status: Completion 2024 | Certified ‘Zero Carbon Building' by CaGBC, LEED Gold and WELL Platinum, targeting BOMA Best | LED lighting | Daylight harvesting
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.
