Award

90 | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 Polaris At Metrotown POLARIS AT METROTOWN by ROBIN BRUNET M etrotown has long been cred- ited for bringing urbanity and design innovation to Burnaby, and now, thanks to three leading developers, a spectacular new residen- tial high-rise graces the skyline of this community: Polaris at Metrotown, a 36-storey tower comprised of 313 one-, two- and three-bedroom homes, townhomes, and live-work residences. Grosvenor and Citimark Group teamed up with Transca Development to guide Polaris through design and construction, facilitated by IBI Group (now Arcadis IBI Group) and ITC Construction Group respectively. Transca said that after they heard about the opportunity to purchase the site in 2015 they realized Polaris had a great potential to be an iconic build- ing at the intersection of Imperial and Nelson. Most importantly, it was the last largest site to rezone in this neigh- bourhood. Fred Zhu, CEO of Transca, says, "Our vision for Polaris was always to inspire others." Transca and IBI created three con- cept designs with varying façades before selecting the design with features that are now strongly associated with Polaris: a lighting box on top of the building; exterior LED flows; and a public art mosaic surrounding the water feature at the entrance lobby. Of working with IBI, the group says that they were great and based on their extensive experience, they were able to identify the correct massing and unit types early on. Clement Pun, architect, director, senior practice lead - architecture, at Arcadis IBI Group, notes that an early decision about the development con- cerned tower placement. "Typically, it would have been at the corner of Imperial and Nelson, but we located it east on the quieter Dublane Street. This gave residents better northern views, better separations between the sur- rounding towers, and better acoustics." The Dublane location also allowed for easier access to the lobby, which IBI "designed to provide a sense of arrival with direct views to the other side of the property," Pun says. The architects con- nected a peaceful library off one side of the lobby and a gymnasium on the other. The arrangement of the town- homes located along Dublane provided a sense of privacy by separating the homes from adjoining outdoor spaces. Parking was one of the development challenges, as Polaris is an L-shaped site and the parking entry was an area of focus for the City of Burnaby. Rather than submitting one version of the parkade design, Transca evaluated the project schedule and requested IBI to propose three versions with differ- ent entries. The City chose the current design, which saved time on redesign and pending review wait times. Another challenge was provid- ing each of Polaris's live/work units with a separate rear exit to the court- yard, while also separating the live portion and work portion within the units with a fire-rated door: The stair run and location was reconfigured towards the rear of the units to mini- mize the corridor space and maximize the usable work floor area. In providing generous outdoor space for the penthouse units, with minimal obstruction from structural columns, several post tensioned con- crete slabs were required. ITC Construction Group broke ground on the project in June of 2019. The owners mention that when the pandemic started in 2020, the concrete structure was only at level eight and con- cerns were raised about the supply of remaining construction materials, espe- cially the items that come from overseas such as kitchen cabinets from Italy and plumbing fixtures from China. Bill Quan, director, senior prac- tice lead - architecture, at Arcadis IBI Group, says, "Plans were quickly developed for onsite safety regarding COVID, and extra site safety officers were hired to sanitize as many areas as possible during the pandemic. "Plans were also made for procur- ing materials from overseas. The three developers decided it was worth the extra cost to bring in materials much sooner than is needed on site and then store them in Vancouver. Some mate- rials were even shipped by air freight to avoid delays." Quan adds that consultation with Starline Windows resulted in the win- dow systems being manufactured with channels to house the elaborate LED system and also to conceal any glare from the tower's residents. Polaris was completed in the fall of 2022 and the property has since sold out. Zhu says of the finished prod- uct: "We combined the original vision for the project with the experience of two seasoned developers to create a one-of-a-kind, globally recognized building in the heart of Burnaby, and we couldn't be more excited." A LOCATION 6699 Dunblane Avenue, Burnaby, B.C. OWNER /DEVELOPER Grosvenor / Citimark Group / Transca Development ARCHITECT Arcadis IBI Group GENER AL CONTR ACTOR ITC Construction Group STRUCTUR AL CONSULTANT Glotman Simpson MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Reinbold Engineering Group ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Nemetz (S/A) & Associates Ltd. INTERIOR DESIGN BYU Design L ANDSCAPE ARCHITECT PWL Partnership Landscape Architects WATER FEATURE DESIGNER Vincent Helton & Associates Ltd. TOTAL SIZE 56,291 square feet TOTAL COST $118 million P H OTO G R A P H Y CO U RT E S Y G ROS V EN O R

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