Service: Sustainability
North Bay Regional Health Centre
The first LEED® registered healthcare facility in Canada, North Bay Regional Health Centre was built on a greenfield site and replaced two general hospitals and a separate mental health facility. HH Angus provided mechanical, electrical, vertical transportation, specialty lighting and communications design consulting engineering for the project.
The gross building area is 725,000 ft2. The facility includes the full range of departments normally found in a regional acute-care, 275-bed hospital, plus a new facility for the Northeast Mental Health Centre. The mental health portion is significant, consisting of 150,000 ft2 and 113 beds, and also includes a significant forensic component.
Using a completely innovative approach, our staff developed 100% outdoor air systems with total enthalpy heat recovery wheels, the first time this system had been implemented in North America. A major advantage of this system is that there is no re-circulated air, which greatly reduces the possibility of infection transmission for patients, staff and visitors. As well, delivering 100% fresh air rather than re-circulated air reduced the need for as many air changes in patient rooms as had previously been the norm. And that change meant that smaller fans and less ductwork were possible, resulting in lower capital cost.
As a value added service, HH Angus constructed a mock patient room to verify airflow patterns for the air distribution system. This ensured that the design was flawless. In addition, reducing air volumes to patient rooms to four changes per hour resulted in changes in the CSA standard.
The project also included:
- Planned future remote cogeneration plant
- High efficiency central heating plant with hot water and steam boilers
- Centrifugal chillers supplemented with a 24/7 chilled water system
- Radiant ceiling panels for perimeter heating
- Enhanced building envelope to achieve energy performance
- Bi-fuel emergency generators with provision for dispatch lighting
- LED lighting
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Communications Design | Lighting Design | Vertical Transportation Consulting
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 725,000 ft2 | The first modified Alternate Finance Partnership (AFP) in Ontario | Status: Completed 2010
LOCATION North Bay, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Greenfield hospital with new mental health centre | A North American first: 100% outdoor air supply with high efficiency total enthalpy heat recovery wheels throughout the hospital, resulting in reduced risk of infection and lower capital costs | One of Canada's first LEED® registered facilities
Custom electrical design
Specialized electrical systems features for the project included a centralized uninterrupted power system and an integrated communications systems platform used for all building operations and healthcare applications.
One of Canada’s first LEED® registered facilities
The main challenge with the design of this facility was performing energy modeling for LEED®. HH Angus’ design team included LEED® Accredited Professionals qualified to carry out a project that met LEED® standards for creation of an energy-efficient building.
— Image courtesy of Evans Bertrand Hill Wheeler Architecture Inc.
Royal Jubilee Hospital
Patient Care Centre
HH Angus provided consulting engineering for all mechanical, electrical, vertical transportation, IMIT and commissioning services for this state-of-the-art 400,000 ft2, 500-bed acute care and psychiatric facility. The facility was certified LEED® Gold, delivering a high performance building that is both sustainable and green. Innovations include rainwater harvesting, 100% fresh air with heat recovery and user-controlled environment.
Most floors in the 8-storey building have a common floor plan, each accommodating two units of 36 beds. Eighty-three are psychiatric beds designed to be converted to acute care if required. The building also includes a highly secure forensic assessment unit. Our vertical transportation work included four passenger elevators and six service elevators.
The site features a smudging room, the ‘All Nations Healing Room’. Mechanically, the room was designed with a dedicated exhaust system to extract smoke and odours during Sweet Grass and Smudging ceremonies, in addition to regular room ventilation.
Working with the rest of the design/build team, HH Angus evaluated the existing central heating plant, determining it was feasible to entirely delete an anticipated boiler/chiller plant. This significantly reduced plant size and cost while improving site-wide energy efficiencies, operating flexibility and redundancy provisions. Lighting installations included the latest LED technology, with excellent results.
IMIT
The Patient Care Centre was British Columbia’s first truly digital hospital. With end-to-end IP-based network infrastructure, caregivers and patients are connected more reliably and securely than had previously been possible. Our design included real-time patient and equipment tracking, auto call up of patient records when staff enter a patient room, and integration of patient records onto TV sets...just some of the digital advances in patient care.
The communications systems feature reliable operation, flexibility, quality of service, convenience, and efficiency of operations. A broad variety of communications, monitoring and computer systems have been installed; for example:
- An intelligent wireless system provides support for wireless applications inside the facility and are strategically positioned to provide full coverage. To ensure reliability and uniform coverage to the entire facility, the Intelligent Wireless Access Points automatically adjust RF signal levels. The system provides full roaming.
- A wireless network infrastructure supports numerous security schemes simultaneously. Data Encryption, Secure Mobility Device and User Authentication are supported, keeping traffic private in a mobile environment.
- The security systems utilize a fully Integrated Multimedia Security Management System (IMSMS), providing a scalable, open architecture, client server-based security management solution, ideal for healthcare facilities. The Security Management System integrates the CCTV, Access Control, Intrusion Detection, Panic/Staff duress, Patient Wandering and Incident Reporting System. The IMSMS workstations allow security personnel to monitor and control all security sub-systems from a single user interface.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Security Design | IMIT Engineering | Vertical Transportation Consulting | Lighting Design
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 400,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2010
LOCATION
Victoria, British Columbia
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
BC’s first digital hospital with end-to-end IP-based network infrastructure | Smudging room with dedicated exhaust system | Rainwater harvesting | LEED® Gold Certified | 4 passenger and 6 service elevators | Met aggressive schedule for concurrent design and construction
Working to tight timelines
This P3 project had an aggressive schedule for concurrent design and construction, calling on HH Angus’ project management expertise to achieve all milestones and deliver the industry-leading facility to Royal Jubilee Hospital on time and within budget.
Commissioning
HH Angus also provided Commissioning Authority oversight. The commissioning plan is in accordance with the CSA Standard Z318.0-05 – Commissioning of Health Care Facilities.
HH Angus developed and helped to administer the Mechanical and Electrical Commissioning plan for MEP with partner firm HWT. The combined team provided stringent third party commissioning and testing services, including a well-defined equipment start-up procedure, verification of physical installation to general conformance with contract documents, and validation of system performance.
Training operations staff
HH Angus developed comprehensive System Operating Manuals (SOMs) for each system and provided enhanced training to building operators on both equipment and the integrated systems, in order to reduce learning-curve time and minimize life cycle cost of the installation.
Holland Bloorview
Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
“Bloorview sets a new benchmark for the shape patient- and family-centred health care should take in the future.”
— Beth Kapusta, Azure Magazine
Holland Bloorview Kids’ Rehabilitation Hospital is a 5-storey 343,000 ft2 rehabilitation inpatient/outpatient facility that replaced two existing facilities. It includes a 75-bed inpatient unit, specialized clinics, school, lap pool, therapeutic pool, cafeteria and central kitchen, technical laboratories and administration offices.
The main design objective was to create an environment that was inviting, friendly and safe. In patient rooms, indirect lighting and downlights create a cozy atmosphere. LED night lights and wall-mounted non-commercial, glare-free bed lights mimic sconces while enhancing comfort and safety. Daylighting throughout the building significantly reduces environmental impacts for this 24/7 healthcare facility.
In the lobby, a colour window displays LED scenes controlled by motion sensors that are triggered when children walk by, creating a fun and interactive environment. The design is sense-oriented with colour distractions, and incorporates low-glare and natural daylighting.
The Snoezelen Room, the first of its kind in North America, uses light as therapy, incorporating multi-level, colour-changing, indirect and twinkling lighting. Its focal point is a therapeutic pool using an indirect, direct and snoezelen lighting for children’s therapy. The pool’s higher temperature required design considerations to control the higher humidity and space temperatures.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Lighting Design | IT & Communication Design
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 343,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2006
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
5-storey facility | Innovative lighting design incorporated in Snoezelen Room - first of its kind in North America | Lobby Colour Window displays motion-controlled LED scenes
Inviting the neighbours in
The recreation pool was designed as a community facility. The lighting features wall-mounted and suspended indirect lighting. The lap pool was located on the exterior of the building with exterior glazing. This posed a challenge in keeping the windows clear of condensation with the high humidity levels from the pool. Air curtains at the windows were incorporated to help eliminate the condensation build-up.
Optimizing design for a sustainable result
Extensive input from the entire design team resulted in an environmentally-sensitive design. A series of workshops were held during Design Development to optimize all aspects of the building, and to maximize use of sustainable materials.
Quote source: World Architecture News, The kids are all right
Town of Aurora
Landfill Gas System
Landfills produce biogas, a combination of methane, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, typically with an energy content of approximately 500 BTU/ft3. Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment mandated that landfills of a certain size are required to collect and combust the biogas they produce.
It is an obvious benefit to be able to capture the renewable energy being collected from these landfills. HH Angus was retained to provide technical expertise in the development of a 1MW electricity-generating project at the closed Waste Management landfill site in Aurora.
As design engineer, HH Angus produced detailed mechanical and electrical plans for the installation. Additional responsibilities included: obtaining a parallel generation agreement with Aurora Hydro Connections Ltd. in order to feed electricity onto the grid; amending the site’s existing MOE Certificate of Approval; and working with the Town of Aurora for planning approval.
The power generation set was installed in July 2005 and was operating on landfill gas by late September, with final approval from Aurora Hydro to inject “green” power into the grid.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering
PROJECT FEATURES
Status: Completed 2005
LOCATION
Aurora, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Produced detailed mechanical and electrical plans for installation | Procured parallel generation agreement with Aurora Hydro | MOE Certificate of Approval amended for the site | Worked with Town of Aurora to obtain planning approval
A decade of ‘green’ power
Based on age and size, the Aurora landfill had enough fuel to operate a 1MW generator for at least ten years.
Canary Wharf Contractors Ltd.
Barclays Bank Headquarters & Computer Centre
Barclays Bank was named as one of “the 30 most significant buildings constructed in the past 30 years” in 2008 by the respected ‘Building Services Journal’.
The Barclays Bank building was singled out for its robust design, which featured a high standard of sustainability and energy efficiency, rare attributes for a high technology building. It also earned the UK's "Breeam Excellent" rating, comparable to LEED® Gold.
The tower consists of a main operations facility, data centre and trading floor with 32 floors above grade, 1,000,000+ ft2 of computer centre, trading floor and high technology office space. HH Angus provided an overall electrical and mechanical design that ensures there are no single points of failure.
Mechanical services were designed to achieve high quality practical solutions for the high cooling loads, while ensuring flexibility for subtenants and office churn. The systems boast dual risers and split plant for the majority of services in order to provide continuity of service for maintenance or in the event of failure.
Electrically, the building has an extremely resilient service provision with dual incoming electrical supplies, 8 MVA of UPS power and 12 MVA of generator power available. The design included dual 11 kV service entrance, a dual 11kV APS systems (12MW), a 2(N+1) UPS topology (8x800kW). All electrical services were provided in a dual riser and split plant format, providing continuation of service under failure or maintenance.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Communication Design | Vertical Transportation Consulting
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 1,000,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2004
LOCATION
London, England
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
32-storey tower | Mechanical services tailored for high cooling loads | Provided dual riser and split platforms for all electrical services | Breem Excellent / LEED® Gold
Energy conservation
The mechanical services embrace practical energy conservation measures, such as pre-heating fresh air intakes using condenser water heat rejection.