Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/175815
The atriums are beautiful. The spatial quality, the tone, texture and lighting have created a really good feel to the building. In any job like this, it's a balance between three things: How fast can you go? How much money can you spend? What kind of quality will you get? Here, we ended up with the highest level of quality." ■ COURTESY SAUCIER + PERROTTE ARCHITECTES / HUGHES CONDON MARLER ARCHITECTS projects on campus. "I was involved with the UBC Life Sciences Centre, which had some similarities to this project. The complexity was there as well, so there was a bene it to the project team to carry over some of that experience." Cader and others cite the value of Building Information Modeling (BIM), increasingly popular three-dimensional digital software that played a vital role throughout the project. Anthony El-Araj, associate and project manager at the structural consultant, Glotman Simpson, was especially enthusiastic about BIM's contribution. "You wouldn't normally catch the con licts between structural, mechanical and architectural in a normal 2-D drawing the way you would with a 3-D model. What you want with a BIM project is a lot of design time so you can get quite detailed, but with a fast-track the design is still ongoing when the constructions begins. There had to be great collaboration between Ledcor and their team of trades as well as the design team." For Sid Siddiqui, vice-president of the mechanical consultant, Stantec Consulting, the biggest challenge was "the number of users with different needs." The data centre, the MBF, the CDRD, the pharmacy – they all had very speci ic and varying requirements. Some functions were of crucial importance, such as the data centre and MBF. "Their operation can't be interrupted. So redundancy was an important aspect of our design, to keep things running when something breaks down." To provide a comfortable and safe environment for students and researchers, the building uses extensive amounts of iltered and conditioned outside air; but it had to be done in an energy ef icient way, says Sid. Four heat recovery chillers extract massive amounts of waste heat from building exhaust and data centre which is then used to heat the building yearround. A state-of-the-art centralized control system continuously optimizes the operation and energy use. Western Paci ic Enterprises GP provided all of the building's complex electrical systems. Construction manager Ron LOCATION 2405 Wesbrook Mall Vancouver, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER UBC Properties Trust ARCHITECT Saucier + Perrotte Architectes/ Hughes Condon Marler Architects (joint venture) OWNER'S REPRESENTATIVE Art Cader Architect Inc. CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Fettback notes that the team concept lead by UBC and Ledcor was the key to the project's success. "Having all partners work together on solutions saved time and allowed the team to address challenges as they arose with the least impact to the project," he says. Fettback too is an advocate of building projects using BIM. "If you have a committed team, it works. It's a concept that can save owners money." The project broke ground in June 2010 and construction was complete in time for the pharmacy lab move-in on Aug. 17, 2012. Given the scope and complexity of the project, Nick Maile can't say enough good things about the Ledcor team: "We wouldn't be where we are today without them." For his part, Ledcor's Bruce Dale comes back to Saucier's vision, which started it all: "This is an architectural masterpiece. Pharmaceutical Sciences & Centre for Drug Research and Development – UBC p.46-51UBC Pharm Sciences.indd 51 Ledcor Construction Limited STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Glotman Simpson MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Stantec Consulting ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Applied Engineering Solutions LANDSCAPE CONSULTANT Perry + Associates TOTAL AREA 300,000 square feet TOTAL CONSTRUCTION COST $100 million TOTAL PROJECT COST $150 million OCTOBER 2012 /51 9/11/12 11:50 AM