Award

October 2020

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O C T O B E R 2 0 2 0 | 51 Customs House P H OTO G R A P H Y + R EN D ER I N G CO U RT E SY C I ELO P RO P ERT I E S CUSTOMS HOUSE by NATALIE BRUCKNER LOCATION 888 Government Street, Victoria, B.C. OWNER /DEVELOPER Cielo Properties ARCHITECTS Paul Merrick Consulting Ltd. / Studio One Architecture Inc. HERITAGE CONSULTANT Donald Luxton & Associates GENER AL CONTR ACTOR Banyan Construction Ltd. STRUCTUR AL CONSULTANT RJC Engineers MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Avalon Mechanical Consultants ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT AES Engineering L ANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Durante Kreuk INTERIOR DESIGN Insight Design Group TOTAL SIZE 159,619 square feet TOTAL COST $100 million I n the past, you would be forgiven for having walked past the Customs House in Victoria, and perhaps not giving it a second glance … despite the fact it takes up an entire city block. But that's no longer the case. Today Customs House, with its sensitive restoration and new seven- storey wing addition, has truly earned its place as one of the three grande dames of Victoria's Inner Harbour (the stately Empress Hotel and the BC Legislature being the other two). But undertaking a legacy project with a history that dates back to the 1890s and in such a prominent location is no mean feat and required a team that understood its importance and was committed to it for the long run. In 2014 Cielo Properties purchased the already vacated Federally-owned Customs House Building from the Government of Canada with a vision to restore the property and offer it the lease of life it truly deserved. "I grew up in Victoria and love this city, and yet this building has for many years been an unfinished cor- ner in Victoria's Inner Harbour. While there was technically some commer- cial down in a basement, there was no real street interaction anywhere on the building. When it came up for sale we were extremely excited to be able to bid on it, and so fortunate to have acquired it. We knew from the start we didn't want to cut any corners, and that we had to go above and beyond," says Johnathon Sipos, president at Cielo Properties. However, what exactly should become of this significant building would take careful consideration and expertise; the expertise of Stan Sipos, founder of Cielo Properties, his son Johnathon Sipos, renowned heritage architect Paul Merrick together with Jim Wong of Studio One Architecture and the team at Banyan Construction Ltd., all while working closely with the City heritage department. "As we looked at it, we realized commercial at grade would make the most sense with either offices or residential above. We eventually decided to replace what was the addi- tion [a 1950s addition that many critics complained did not suit the historic context of the Inner Harbour], refur- bish the original Customs House that features sandstone walls quarried from Gabriola Island, and place resi- dential above, to bring even more life to the Inner Harbour and offer resi- dents the most spectacular views," says Merrick. Retaining the heritage fabric of the Customs House that would form the envelope was, as you would imag- ine, extremely challenging, and as with any refurbishment, came with a few surprises. "To get down to the three levels of parking we had to blast, as most of it was rock. No-one really knew where the foundations were and we only got a grasp on it as we went down and discovered the footings were much higher than we originally thought. It took a lot of thinking on the fly," explains Dean Steffins from Banyan Construction. To tie the heritage side in, Banyan put columns up against the concrete walls and elected to use shotcrete to reduce the hydrostatic pressure and eliminate the risk of blowing out the heritage wall. This method was so effective that Banyan purchased its own shotcrete division. "We then structurally braced back the walls with supporting structural steel to ensure there wasn't any move- ment," adds Craig Thomas of Banyan. For the design of the new seven-sto- rey building, materials were chosen that would pay homage to the heritage element and complement the exist- ing surroundings, while bringing it up-to-date. "The design of the new building was influenced by the original, with the windows and spacing. We didn't want to repeat it, but do a new derivative of it. We always felt the material should be stone and we wanted something 2:02 PM 10:55 AM 1:39 PM 2:42 PM

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