Service: Tenant Improvements
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
PROJECT FEATURES
226,000 ft2 | Status: Completion 2024 | Certified ‘Zero Carbon Building by CaGBC | Targeting LEED Gold and WELL Platinum certifications | 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.
*Source: HOK Canada
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.
The McEwan Group
Fabbrica TD
Fabbrica's second location was designed as a take-out venue. The 4200 ft2 retail space is accessed via Toronto's underground PATH system, in the heart of the city's financial district. Fabbrica on the PATH joins its sister outlet across the hall, the McEwan grocery store.
HH Angus was engaged to provide mechanical, electrical and lighting design services for the tenant fitout of the new Fabbrica on the concourse level of the TD Centre. Fabbrica took over an existing space which required ceiling demolition in order to install new lighting and electrical systems.
Custom interior lighting was designed to attract the attention of commuters and shoppers in the PATH system. To achieve this, 3500K 12W high-colour-rendering LEDs were incorporated into the lighting design to showcase the vibrant colours of the meal offerings prepared for hungry consumers.
The project's location in the concourse level posed a design challenge to the team, due to the modest amount of ceiling and underfloor clearance. To accommodate these restrictions, HH Angus designed solutions to manage the routing of piping, conduits and drainage within the limited space.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Lighting Design
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 4,200 ft2 | Status: Completed 2018
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Limited space above and below the retail space required innovative design approaches | High Colour Rendering LEDs
Confined spaces
The space restrictions of the site, with regard to M&E infrastructure, required extensive site surveys, plus special attention being paid to obstructions in the parking levels below.
The Cooperators Canada
Tenant Fitout
“Our people will have first class work environments that support their wellbeing and set the bar in our industry when it comes to workplace design and sustainable construction.”
Shawn Fitzgerald, VP Enterprise Procurement/Workplace Services, The Cooperators
HH Angus designed a complete fitout, including mechanical, electrical, ICAT, and emergency backup power design for this 9-storey renovation. Each floor was a mix of open office and collaboration spaces with ancillary serveries. The second floor had a full commercial kitchen and café area.
Among the challenges of the project was the existing building back up power system, which was not configured to support the new equipment our client desired. We worked closely with our client’s landlord and building managers to find a solution that provided the client with the ability to operate 24/7 without overloading the existing system’s capabilities. Through careful calculations and creative thinking, we were able to reconfigure the existing MCC (motor control centre), and transfer the most crucial items onto the generator system.
Our team worked closely with the return-to-base engineers to relocate new infrastructure within their project scope, in order to ensure work did not need to be duplicated later in our scope. A good example of this was collaborating on new heat pump locations. Since many locations on the floor plates have exposed ceilings, we ensured heat pumps were being located optimally during the back-to-base work, removing the requirement for our project to move them.
When the COVID-19 epidemic became a factor in the late stages of the project, our team quickly adapted to ensure trades were kept accountable and on schedule for project delivery.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | ICAT Design | Audio-Visual Design | Communications Design
PROJECT FEATURES
Status: Completed 2020 | 9 storey complete fitout | Each floor a mix of open office and collaboration spaces | Ancillary services – full commercial kitchen and café
LOCATION
Regina, Saskatchewan
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
9 storeys | Equipment retrofit for existing emergency power system | Detailed coordination with interior design team for multiple ceiling arrangements | Participated in value engineering discussion to meet client’s needs within available budget
TD Bank
Living Roof“The Green Council [tenant representatives] has made it clear, through a commitment to action, that sustainability is a core value of TD Centre tenants.”
David Hoffman, then-General Manager. TD Centre
At the TD Centre’s iconic towers in downtown Toronto, TD Bank’s Living Roof offers both environmental benefits and some much-needed green relief from the usual hardscape views had by occupants of the Centre’s towers. It covers 22,000 ft2 and is planted with creek sedge grasses, a hardy semi-evergreen native species tough enough to survive the extremes of Toronto’s climate. Annual energy savings from the green roof are approximately $23,000. This is achieved by reducing summer cooling and winter heat loss by 25%.
HH Angus provided mechanical and electrical engineering for the green roof installation and irrigation system, as well as the project’s preliminary Feasibility Study. To avoid over-watering, the irrigation system features a sensor that shuts down the irrigation system when it rains. This sensor also reduces irrigation when the water received during previous rainfalls or irrigation has not yet evaporated.
In order to evaluate the requirements for mechanical and electrical design for the irrigation system, the ceiling plenum for the single story building below had to be surveyed. The storm water drainage system was original and would need modification and updating. The existing plumbing was modified to allow connection of the new irrigation.
Installation of dedicated electrical circuits and automated controls was required in order to operate the self-draining irrigation system. The controls were ceiling mounted with remote computer access. Rain spray heads, valves, head sensors, pattern nozzles, valve boxes, and stainless roof drains were incorporated.
Before the design could be executed, rainwater calculations were carried out based on Environment Canada data, along with spreadsheets detailing storm water run-off. These calculations assisted in sizing the storm water piping and locating roof drains and spray nozzles.
A roof leak detection system was also designed, along with a new soil pipe vent stack through the Pavilion roof, and a gooseneck conduit for rooftop wiring. A new replacement filter rack was added to the roof air vents.
SERVICES
Feasibility Study Plumbing Design | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 22,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2015 | Annual energy savings through reduction in summer cooling requirements and in winter heat loss
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Feasibility study | Rainwater calculations | Plumbing design with supporting mechanical and electrical design and engineering | Roof leak detection system
Sustainable
design
TD Bank's Living Roof represents tenant values and is a bold expression of collaboration in support of environmental stewardship
Honouring the design
The green roof’s grid pattern mimics Mies van der Rohe’s original design for the pavilion roof. This was done to respect the ‘designated heritage site’ aspect of the TD Centre.
Images courtesy of Flynn Canada