Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/177297
PCL Group Headquarters Building by Stefan Dubowski he construction company PCL Group will bill more than $6.7 billion in construction projects in the average year. By 2016, revenues are targeted to swell to $10 billion. To support this impressive growth, PCL requires more employees and, of course, more workspace. In the meantime, PCL lacks the space it needs to accommodate its existing staff. Although the company's headquarters consist of four buildings in its 99 Street campus in Edmonton, "we're bursting at the seams with people sharing offices," says Rob Holmberg, executive vice-president, Canadian buildings and director of construction for Australia. PCL decided to develop a fifth building on campus. The firm envisioned an edifice for its services staff – people who work in technology, operations support, HR and the industrial division, which supports companies in the oil and gas industry. Building 5 would also accommodate the Edmonton buildings group, which provides construction and management services in Edmonton and Northern Alberta. PCL wanted the new structure to be environmentally friendly, with an energy-efficient heating system and a tight building envelope that affords superior insulation. The company also sought to ensure the interior received plenty of natural light for the comfort of staff. To help transform its vision into reality, PCL hired Dialog, the integrated design services company, as the architectural, structural, electrical and mechanical consultant. "We've done a significant amount of work with them, and we have a very good working relationship," Holmberg says. PCL also turned to its subsidiary PCL Construction Management for the general contractor duties. Although the client is its parent company, PCL The construction team finished the building in time for employees to begin moving in by October 2012. Providing 82,000 square feet of space, Building 5 features a thermally broken curtain wall designed to reduce heat exchange. The windows, with a slight grey tint, allow plenty of natural light in but also help reduce the effect of the hot sun in summer. The two-storey section, containing the main entrance, lunchroom and a meeting space for up to 80 people, has a green roof. The larger three-storey section, which contains office space, has a low-albedo roof to reflect heat. The exterior is clad in fibreC, a fibrereinforced concrete panel. The material is durable, relatively quick to install and it ties in with the exposed-concrete esthetic exhibited by the other buildings on PCL's campus, Boyd says. The interior carries on with the exterior cues. The entrance sports the same fibreC material as the outside. Keeping with this esthetic, the flooring consists of exposed ground concrete, which features the natural lines of aggregate. The lunchroom, which is meant to serve as an eating area for everyone across the campus, occupies prime real estate overlooking the courtyards. The offices and meeting space have low-VOC carpeting and wood accents images courtesy PCL group T Management considered the project no different from any other. "Our goal is always sharing our clients' vision, and building success with them as a team," says Scott Webster, a PCL Construction Management project manager. Dialog set about creating a plan that would suit the site and the owner's concept. Though the site is rectangular, the architects knew a rectangular building wouldn't do the job. "The plate depth would have been such that people around the perimeter would have daylight and a view while everyone in the centre would not," says Stephen Boyd, architect and partner with Dialog. The company shaped the building with two courtyards extending towards the interior of the site. This formation, which resembles a capital E from above, would allow more natural light inside. "People in the interior get daylight and views," Boyd says. PCL broke ground in June 2011. As the project took place on the company's existing campus, where hundreds of employees work, it was important to minimize disruptions during working hours. Plenty of the construction activity occurred on weekends and in the evenings. When work did affect people's access to certain locations on the campus during working hours, PCL Construction Management coordinated with PCL Group's property management team to warn employees about the impending changes. "We received good feedback that we were able to minimize the impact as much as possible," Webster says. One issue for the construction team had to do with a new computer data centre that was to be installed in Building 5's basement. Situated underground, the facility would be out of the way and well protected, but it would also be more at risk of flooding than an above-ground data centre. Dialog designed a supplementary drainage system to mitigate this concern. PCL Group Headquarters Building p48-51PCLContractors.indd 49 december 2012 /49 11/16/12 3:29 PM