Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/177525
by Corey Van't Haaff he creation of the Property and Forensic Storage Facility was fraught with challenges. It needed to store criminal evidence securely and it needed to do this under post-disaster conditions. DNA, for instance, had to be kept in a freezer at 25 to 30 degrees below zero for 99 years. There had to be room to bring in vehicles, including a bus if need be, and be able to manoeuvre them around the site. In addition to secure impound parking for more than 50 vehicles, there had to be a garage with forensic inspection bays so evidence could be extracted from vehicles. Add to this was the fact that the site itself, bordered by railway tracks with only one access point, had soil conditions that were less than ideal, with no time to do a full excavation. Federal and provincial stimulus funding brought with it a timeline so tight that City of Vancouver project manager Natalka Lubiw had to strategize to achieve a burn rate of $1.7 million a month while maintaining the best value for the City. Then, throw in a lood in fall 2010, and it is miraculous that the building was inished on time and budget, let alone expected to attain LEED Gold certi ication. "Our mandate," says Lubiw, "was to design a secure facility to accommodate all VPD property. 2010 Glen was developed as a public safety campus to consolidate VPD training and non-critical operations under one roof in a secure complex." [Phase 1 was the Tactical Training Centre, owned and operated by the City of Vancouver, where police of icers receive ongoing tactical training. Phase 2, the Property and Forensic Storage Facility, was an addition to the TTC building and is still owned by the City but is a secure VPD operation. Phase 3 may see the addition of three loors on one side of the building to house forensic labs.] Phase 2 construction began in January 2010. DGBK, the architects, had originally developed a three-phase master plan to ensure that each program phase "would it," says Lubiw, adding that Phase 2 post-disaster capabilities were tailored to speci ic requirements. "The post-disaster provisions are not intended to preserve human life," she says. "What was required was basically a vault with the ability to maintain basic conditions to preserve this huge legacy of legal evidence in the event of a disaster." Since there was no time for excavation, piles were used to provide the support and stability needed. "Any loss of evidence would affect trials and appeals," says Frank Nadalini, Bush Bohlman & Partners, the structural engineers. "Piling was required as the soil in False Creek was silty sand which was lique iable." Socketed piles were driven far enough to embed in stiffer material and then the foundation on top of the piles was constructed with cross-beams cleated into the piles and soil. Similar structures had been built before, says Nadalini, but not to this size and extent. He is, he says, very happy with the result. Dennis Rossi of D.G.S. Construction explains that as construction managers and general contractors, the company had to help resolve the issue of how the weight of a post-disaster construction could rest on piles yet stay light enough above-grade. "It suggested to us a king-span panel," says Rossi. King panels are exterior and interior metal skins wrapped around a Styrofoam ill. "The weight of this skin is fairly light and was used for the post-disaster part of Phase 2." Perspective was a key factor in landscaping the property, says Gerry Eckford of Eckford & Associates Inc. "This project, more than most, is perceived by the public from above, on the SkyTrain," he says. The green roof and landscaping is designed to keep water from entering storm drains by funneling it instead into the landscape. The green roof is primarily a sedum carpet which looks like a lawn at times but is actually small lowering succulents. "We used a lot of nature plantings…that grow here naturally as the site has no permanent irrigation system." Lighting design was based on energy ef icient lighting system for illuminating the building's interior premises and exterior grounds. Lamp selection was based on ef icacy, colour temperature, colour rendering index and long life. "Where appropriate," says Ali Rahimpour, project manager with Genivar, "we PHOTOS COURTESY DGBK ARCHITECTS Vancouver Police Department Property and Forensic Storage Facility T Vancouver Police Department Property and Forensic Storage Facility p.78-79VPD Forensic.indd 79 incorporated controls for daylight harvesting, to detect daylight levels and automatically adjust the output of lighting, to save energy." A single-skin cladding system eliminates the need for drywall and paint inside part of the building. A simple yet effective solar wall, clad in black perforated metal, draws air into the space between the inside and outside walls, where it rises up and is then drawn into the mechanical systems at the roof. Mechanical engineering irm MCW Consultants Ltd.'s Sam Louie says they worked with the architect to provide the building with natural convective energy. "There's an operable damper at the top to either take energy into the building or relieve it elsewhere," says Louie. Architect Robert Lange, DGBK Architects, says that the original vision was to generate an esthetic keeping with the industrial nature of the area but with a high-tech approach consistent with the activities of the police. "We used cement panels and corrugated metal in a more sophisticated way," Lange explains. "The design was process-driven and site-driven. There was a huge need for storage with an impound lot on site. Part of the challenge was the odd shape." Basically, Phase 2 is a large warehouse, Lange says, with some very special needs such as a drug room and dedicated freezers. "It's amazing what they get in on a daily basis," he says, adding that the VPD was excited about the bike rack; a conveyor belt hung from the ceiling, much like the conveyors used to hang clothes at the dry cleaners. Budget compliance wasn't an issue and Lange compliments the City on doing such a great job managing inances, that there was enough left over to add a fourth loor (for archival material) as well as storage shelving. The end result, he says, exceeded the expectation of the program. "For not exceeding the budget," says Lange, "the City got more than it wanted. It also got something not just utilitarian but with a design esthetic." When asked if the VPD was happy, Ian Wightman, VPD Property Of ice and Forensic Storage manager says, "we're absolutely over-the-top ecstatic. It fulills all the needs for the VPD now and for the next 25 years. The response from everybody is the signi icant leap forward that the VPD has taken." ■ LOCATION 2010 Glen Drive Vancouver, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER City of Vancouver CLIENT Vancouver Police Department PROJECT ARCHITECT DGBK Architects CONSULTING ARCHITECT Rebanks Pepper Littlewood GENERAL CONTRACTOR D.G.S. Constructions Co. Ltd. STRUCTURAL ENGINEER Bush Bohlman & Partners MECHANICAL ENGINEER MCW Consultants Ltd. ELECTRICAL ENGINEER Genivar Inc. ENVIRONMENTAL/GEOTECHNICAL/ BUILDING ENVELOPE/MATERIAL TESTING CONSULTANT esp Services Inc. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Eckford & Associates Inc. PHASE 2 TOTAL AREA 97,400 square feet PHASE 2 CONSTRUCTION COST $25 million FEBRUARY 2012 /79 1/23/12 10:46:13 AM