Queen's University

Biomedical Research Facility

HH Angus was engaged to upgrade the Queen's University Biomedical Research Facility (BRF). We have been providing consulting engineering to Queen's for well over two decade and, over that time, have developed an intimate knowledge of the systems infrastructure throughout the campus.

The BRF project involved a three-phase renovation, upgrade, and fitout of an existing 39,000 ft2 research facility. The aging facility needed additional space for increased research initiatives and a complete upgrade of its lighting, HVAC, and processing systems.

Facility components included systems for biosafety labs, autoclaves, glass washers, new cage washers, procedure rooms, and telemetry rooms across two floor plates. Phase 1 included relocation of a 15,000 ft2 rodent facility within an existing science building. Phases 2 and 3 included a full upgrade and renovation of the 24,000 ft2 vivarium.

HH Angus was involved with the project since its inception in 2009. The approval process lasted over seven years to secure funding, plan for the migration of the labs, and achieve user group consensus on the facility redesign.

The project included some interesting challenges associated with the upgrades:

Operational Continuity: The facility operates 24/7. New space had to be developed and commissioned before decommissioning old spaces. Our team performed detailed planning and site reviews to ensure there would be no disruptions to ongoing research or adjacent HVAC systems.

Aged Infrastructure: The older building lacked up-to-date ‘as-built’ drawings. To mitigate this, we used Revit for BIM modeling and interference drawings to prevent clashes during construction.

Spatial Constraints: Floor-to-ceiling heights were approximately 11 to 13 feet, which is significantly below the modern laboratory standard of 15 feet. We solved this by moving services out of the ceiling space into more spacious areas such as the penthouse, roof, and lower floors.

Infrastructure Renewal: The team designed the complete replacement of all air handling and exhaust systems in the active building. Through creative design, we achieved N+1 redundancy in the air handling systems at the same cost as a standard like-for-like replacement.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Lighting Design | Security & Communications Design | Vertical Transportation Consulting

PROJECT FEATURES
Phased renovation, upgrade and fitout of existing facility | 24/7 operations | 39,000 ft2 facility over two floors | Completed 2020

LOCATION
Kingston, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Enable 24/7 operations to continue during entire phased renovation | Design, build and commission new laboratory space before decommissioning outdated laboratory | Solve spatial challenges in new lab site due to low ceiling height | Replace all air handling units

Interior Health

BC Cancer Centre

The new BC Cancer Centre is described as the single largest capital investment into the expansion of cancer care in the Kamloops region.

Interior Health, in partnership with BC Cancer, is building a new cancer centre at the Westlands site of the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, BC. The new facility includes design and construction of a 5-storey outpatient radiation oncology clinic. Featuring three linear accelerators for radiation therapy, a CT simulator, a diagnostic MRI, ambulatory care space, a 470-stall parkade and an interfaith sacred space for patients and families, the new Cancer Centre will respond to increased demand for cancer services on the main campus, and facilitate 16,500 treatments annually while significantly reducing long-distance travel for many patients.

HH Angus is providing mechanical and electrical engineering, ICAT design and vertical transportation consulting services for this project which is led by EllisDon Corporation.

The Kamloops Cancer Centre is scheduled for completion in 2028.

Image Credit - Interior Health

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | ICAT/IMIT Design | Vertical Transportation Consulting

PROJECT FEATURES
5-storey outpatient radiation oncology clinic | Design-Build delivery model | 470-stall parkade | Interfaith sacred space | Completion 2028

LOCATION
Kamloops, British Columbia

Government of Canada

Sir John A. Macdonald Building

“The Government of Canada recognized that rehabilitation of the Macdonald Building would support the federal agenda to incorporate innovative, sustainable and environmentally responsible design into all of their buildings.”

PWGSC website

The Macdonald Building in Ottawa was undergoing extensive renovation and upgrades to its structure and systems, most of which were original to the 1930s construction and fell short of modern building codes. Key elements of the redevelopment included improvements in energy efficiency, long-term durability, indoor air quality and other measures. Heritage conservation was also a key consideration of the upgrades, with the objective of improving long term operational results and building integrity.

Engaged as the vertical transportation consultant, HH Angus executed a complex adaptive rehabilitation of the elevator space in the Macdonald Building to meet modern accessibility standards and building codes.

The majority of inter-floor movement is intended to be accommodated by stairways, with the single passenger elevator configured to ensure barrier-free access to occupied floors. This same elevator was configured to accommodate a stretcher (measuring up to 610 mm wide x 2010 mm long) in the prone position.

Two service elevators were provided to address all material handling requirements for the facility, providing a vertical connection from the new loading dock, which was part of the redevelopment. The service elevators are located adjacent to each other and, as such, provide service redundancy for the facility in the event that one elevator is not available.

The single LU/LA* features access restrictions to ensure that use of this elevating device is limited to staff, appreciating that there may be an occasional need for public use (under the direct supervision of staff) in cases where the passenger elevator is not available.

*Limited Use/Limited Application – a specialized type of elevator designed for commercial accessibility

SERVICES
Vertical Transportation Consultant

PROJECT FEATURES
Complex adaptive rehabilitation of office space | Completed 2015

LOCATION
Ottawa, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Renovation project | 1 passenger elevator, 1 LU/LA elevator, 2 service elevators providing redundant capacity

Infrastructure Ontario

Grandview Children's Centre Redevelopment

The Grandview Children's Centre is the new headquarters for Grandview Kids/The Jerry Coughlan Building, specializing in care and support for children and youth with physical, communication and developmental needs, and their families.

Grandview Kids headquarters - ‘The Jerry Coughlan Building’ - sought to consolidate locations to provide better coordinated care in Durham Region for children and youth with physical, communication and developmental needs.

The 94,744 ft2, 4-storey educational and treatment facility includes centre-wide therapy services, such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech-language pathology, therapeutic recreation, audiology, infant hearing, blind low vision and social work. The building contains a therapy pool area which includes an integrated AV system to create a more relaxing and therapeutic environment. It also offers autism services, a preschool outreach program, school-based rehabilitation services, developmental pediatrics, including specialized medical clinics, and family/caregiver resources and support.

HH Angus provided mechanical and electrical engineering, and design for plumbing, vertical transportation, lighting, audio visual, communications, security, and information communications technology services ‒ with a key design imperative to create sensory-friendly, safe, and comfortable environments for children with diverse needs.

During design, our team and the architect held multiple user meetings by department, including facility leadership. Through rounds of meetings, we continually developed and revisited the design. Ongoing feedback identified risk and risk locations for those using these facilities. This resulted in relocating light switches, thermostats and other activatable devices for certain rooms away from usual locations to avoid tampering or harm to clients, staff or visitors.

The facility is also home to Grandview School, as well as a branch of the Ajax Public Library. As well, the building site features a therapeutic trail that integrates security into the landscaping for added safety while maintaining the appearance of being surrounded by nature.

The project was delivered through the P3 (Design Build Finance) model and won the Award of Merit for Project Development at the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnership’s (CCPPP) 2022 National Awards for Innovation and Excellence in Public-Private Partnerships.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Information and Communications Technology | Vertical Transportation

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 94,744 ft2 | Status: Completed 2024 | P3-DBF | CCPPP 2022 Award of Merit for Project Development

LOCATION
Ajax, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Integrated Grandview School and Ajax Public Library branch

Fraser Health

New Surrey Hospital and BC Cancer Centre

Surrey BC is a fast-growing community in need of additional healthcare resources. The New Surrey Hospital and BC Cancer Centre will provide 168 hospital beds and 55 Emergency Department treatment spaces in a state-of-the-art facility to improve health services in the region.

The $2.88B hospital project reached its one-year construction milestone in August 2024 and is anticipated to be completed in 2029 and open to the public in 2030. Additional features of the fully-electric facility include a surgical/perioperative suite with five ORs, four procedure rooms and virtual care options in all clinical service areas to increase capacity and expand care. The new BC Cancer Centre is expected to provide approximately 105,000 ambulatory oncology care visits, 50,000 radiation therapy visits and 22,000 chemotherapy visits each year. The facility is being built under a Design-Build Agreement with EllisDon Design Build Inc.

Leading BC's first generation of smart hospitals, the new Surrey hospital will embed data insights and new technologies into both the design of the facility and delivery of clinical care. The Angus Connect team is providing a full spectrum of ICAT/IMIT design and AGV consulting, and HH Angus’ Vertical Transportation team is designing the elevator systems.

Images courtesy of Fraser Health and EllisDon Design Build – conceptual renderings, subject to change

SERVICES
ICAT/IMIT Design | AGV Consulting | Vertical Transportation Consulting

LOCATION
Surrey BC

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Information, communications and automation technology | Automated guided vehicle design consulting | elevator design consulting

New BC Cancer Centre

The facility will provide ~105,000 ambulatory oncology care visits, 50,000 radiation therapy visits and 22,000 chemotherapy visits annually.

Smart hospitals

The NSHBCCC is one of BC's new generation of smart hospitals.