Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/177297
"It starts with an overall concept," says Reid. "We had to consider how the site would work, its size and so on. How much of the area can we use to build? Where will the access points be? Because of its location near the highway, we used the north-south streets for access. "We then designed the building blocks, with some major stores, such as the Wal-Mart, at about 150,000 square feet. We decided to place the Wal-Mart at the lower grade and other buildings on the more elevated ground. From there, we looked at different ways to fit in the other stores of various sizes, from 20,000 to 30,000 square feet. The property is narrower on the west; the land sort of pinches down, so all of this had to be considered." This method of design sounds almost like planning a small city, with all of the infrastructure necessary to keep everything functioning. "Retail design is evolving," says Reid. "The indoor shopping centres are less popular. Today, village-style malls are becoming the norm." Location 3122 Mt. Lehman Road Abbotsford, B.C. Owner/Developer Shape Properties Corp. Architect Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership General Contractor Graham Construction & Engineering Inc. Structural Consultant Glotman Simpson Consulting Engineers Mechanical Consultant Sterling Cooper & Associates Electrical Consultant Nemetz (S/A) & Associates Ltd. Lighting Consultant Margot Richards Lighting Landscape Architect PMG Landscape Architects Ltd. Total Area 600,000 square feet Total Construction Cost $125 million Highstreet p68-71Highstreet.indd 71 Steve Rose was senior project manager for Calgary-based general contractor Graham Construction & Engineering Inc. He says that the project, still very much under way, is "cooking right along. We're working on the last of 12 structures on the top level. We have two more to complete." Rose explains that because of the south-to-north grade, there is a podium deck. The shops he mentioned are located on top of this deck, with more shops beneath, as well as some parking. "The 150,000-square-foot Wal-Mart is under the podium," says Rose, pointing out that there are 80 shops and restaurants altogether in the centre, as well as the multiplex cinemas. "There are four quadrants to the mall. We started with three of these at once," says Rose. "That significantly Westport Manufacturing.indd helped with the schedule we were working with. It's taken about 65,000 square metres of concrete." Senior landscape designer Ben Aldaba, an associate with Vancouver's PMG Landscape Architects, says work continues on the top of the podium. "Fall of last year was the beginning of the project for us," says Aldaba. "Shape's goal is to have a dense, lush evergreen landscape, but it's a soft landscape as far as overall maintenance and upkeep. The plant material we're putting in has an instant impact, like it's been there for five years. "We have a mix of grasses, ground cover and evergreen hedging," he says. "It's a nice green background to the architecture. It will be good all year long." Gideon Loh, a mechanical engineer with Vancouver-based Sterling Cooper & Associates, says, "Framing is mostly complete. But there has been some special design work necessary for some tenants in the mall, such as Wal-Mart and London Drugs. The entire project has been designed to LEED specifications, which drove the selection of certain methods and materials. I can tell you, there is no doubt this is a big project." ■ 1 12-11-05 2:58 PM december 2012 /71 11/16/12 3:39 PM