Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/175815
Toronto South Detention Centre by Irwin Rapoport n 2013, the Greater Toronto Area will have a new provincial correctional complex via the $594-million, 800,000-square-foot Toronto South Detention Centre (TSDC). This new institution replaces three aging facilities: Mimico Correctional Complex, where TSDC now stands, the Toronto "Don" Jail, and the Toronto West Detention Centre. This design-build project is a private-public partnership (P3): a 30-year design, build, inance and maintain contract that was developed using Ontario's Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) model. The partnership includes EllisDon Corporation, Fengate Capital, Zeidler Partnership Architects and Johnson Controls Limited Partnership. The contract comes within the jurisdiction of Infrastructure Ontario (IO), and the detention centre is operated by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS). The facility is designed to LEED Silver standards, however, it may earn enough points to achieve Gold certi ication. "We expect the facility will be operational sometime in 2013," says Greg Flood, the MCSCS's acting manager, issues management and media relations. "The construction is part of a wider initiative to modernize our correctional facilities across Ontario. Our new facility in Toronto will provide enhanced specialized programming, and will also have enhanced technology that enables inmates to have access to courts and counsel without having to leave the institution. Our modernized facilities will also allow more space to manage more programs, more ef icient health care, and other services that bene it our inmates." Terence Foran, a communications advisor with IO, says, "an AFP solution was chosen because projects of this magnitude are highly complex and through using the AFP model we are able to transfer common project risks, such as scheduling, cost of materials and labour, etc. to the private sector which is best able to manage them. The project is initially inanced through the contractor and repayment from the province occurs once the facility is completed and operating according to the contract. This inancial risk is a big incentive for the contractor to deliver PHOTOS COURTESY ZEIDLER PARTNERSHIP ARCHITECTS I Toronto South Detention Centre p.62-65South Detention.indd 63 the facility on time and on budget." The TSDC has the capacity for 1,650 inmates. The detention centre consists of three seven-storey towers, with units of prefabricated cells (two inmates per cell). The institution features day rooms and enclosed fresh air areas for inmates. The institution is also designed to meet the needs of Aboriginal inmates with an enclosed courtyard and outdoor sweat lodge. A food and laundry unit attached to the building is shared with the Toronto Intermittent Centre (TIC), a facility that houses 320 male inmates who serve weekend intermittent sentences. While both buildings share the same security level, the TIC has some dormitory-style living units. A central utility building at the rear of the site contains the central power plant, boilers and chillers. "There is a security fence in the back of the institution," says Alan Munn, Zeidler Architects' partner in charge of preparing the design, "but walls of the building are the primary security wall. There is another security fence and electronic surveillance measures throughout. Inmate transport vehicles enter through a garage which can accommodate two large buses." The detention centre features a modern administration area and staff facilities, including change rooms, a staff itness area, a central lounge and an outdoor courtyard for staff breaks. The public entrance to the building is clad in glazing, while the remainder is precast. The windows for the cells (which have horizontal bars instead of vertical) and all the glazing follow prescribed standards. The precast comes in two basic colours – offwhite limestone and light terra cotta, with four different textures that provide variation. "The TSDC was designed to be a public building . It has a certain street presence and respects the neighbourhood," says Munn. "The front of the building is low to mask the three towers." The average length of stay for a remanded inmate in the province of Ontario is 34.5 days. Security concerns are paramount to the design and each tower has separate inmate units. Most of the correctional of icers will interact with the inmates via an in-person direct supervision model. Access to various parts of the institution is strictly monitored and controlled. "It's a very complex security system," says Munn. Interior inishes and materials vary throughout the TSDC, with different ceilings – security ceilings (very heavy metal and with acoustic properties), and painted and exposed concrete and drywall ceilings. The looring for the cell units is a special epoxy with acoustic properties. "We are comfortably achieving LEED Silver," says Munn. "We have a very large geothermal ield that we use for heating and cooling, the buildings are well-insulated, there are heat recovery systems, and we have ef icient lights and systems to optimize energy use." Photos clockwise from top left: TSDC entrance; precast modular cells being installed; TSDC reception. OCTOBER 2012 /63 9/11/12 12:06 PM