Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/218643
photos courtesy Air Canada Air Canada Operations Control Centre by Tiffany Sloan esponsible for the day-to-day running of the entire airline, the Air Canada Operations Control Centre is a 24/7 operation, overseeing nearly 600 flights around the world each day. Flight delays/cancellations, weather disruptions and medical emergencies are all handled here by fast-acting personnel at the airline's home base. Considering the critical nature of its operations, it is hard to believe that Air Canada's operations control centre has long been housed on the single floor of an old, dark and cramped 10-storey office tower prone to false fire alarms and evacuations. More importantly, says Catherine Brassard, senior director of operations excellence and continuous improvement for Air Canada, it didn't allow for growth, and not all key decision makers were sitting under one roof – operations personnel were instead divided between Ontario and Quebec. For the airline's new operations control centre – a secure, hardened and selfcontained facility – Air Canada wanted to create a more collaborative environment. "We wanted all operational people to be housed together, so that people responsible for the operation would sit adjacent to one another to allow more ambient conversation and to allow them to make better decisions – and to make them a lot quicker than they are today," says Brassard. The new Brampton facility is a far cry from its predecessor. The 75,000-square-foot building's first floor houses administration and training areas as well as the lunchroom/ lounge, while the second floor is home to Systems Operational Control (SOC), with an extensive mechanical area on the roof. The building can accommodate 400 employees and has room to grow. Following an extensive consultation with operations personnel to determine the extent of each department's R Air Canada Operations Control Centre p74-75Air Canada.indd 75 interaction with the others, ZAS Architects + Interiors Inc. designed an open, circular space with a command centre in the middle. Operations group leaders sit in the middle of the command centre, facing out toward their team members, whose 126 sit/stand workstations are arranged concentrically around the central podium. "This arrangement allows for visual and audible communication between the groups and their leaders," explains Paul Stevens, senior principal at ZAS Architects. "Two large concentric reflectors suspended from the structure mimic the arrangement of the consoles below and carry the voice of the operations leader on the podium 60 feet to the back-row operations personnel." As well, collaboration areas in each corner allow teams to problem solve together using a smartboard, then project their notes to their individual workspaces once they've come up with a plan. This open-plan design required clear lines of sight, meaning the SOC floor had to be free of support columns. "That presented challenges," says Brian van Bussel, partner with structural consultant MMM Group Ltd. "It made for much longer spans, which required structures that could be susceptible to vibration – so we had to make sure the design reduced vibrations to within acceptable limits. "In the area where the air traffic controllers sit, they all face toward a central command centre," explains van Bussel. "That central command centre configuration permitted only one single column right in the middle of the room, so we framed to that one column to keep the remainder of the space free." The IT equipment on this floor – which comprised nearly one-third of the total project budget – includes 384 30-inch monitors, 165 24-inch monitors and a live video link to the Toronto Pearson International Airport. A raised access floor provides ventilation and routing space for the copious data cables and electrical wiring. The critical nature of the SOC's operations meant that redundancy was key to all elements of the electrical and mechanical design. Following an N+2 configuration, three 800kW generators provide backup in case of a power outage. These generators are supplied by two 35,000-litre diesel fuel tanks that enable the centre to operate for up to five days without external power. "We provided two uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems as the transition point between the utility failure and the generators starting up, so the users won't experience a drop in power. If one fails or is down for maintenance, there's another in place to support the load," says Devakaran Sarathchandran, electrical designer with Smith + Andersen. Furthermore, any time one generator is down, a load-shedding sequence will drop any loads that are considered non-essential to ensure there is sufficient generator capacity and redundancy to support critical equipment. A similar adherence to redundancy is evident in the mechanical design. "Anything related to the SOC area has an N+1 redundancy," explains Chris Liu, project manager, mechanical, with Smith + Andersen. "We had redundant air handlers, boilers, pumps, and redundant computer room AC units (CRACs) in the computer room and UPS room. "The mechanical system is pretty critical to the function of the building, so, similar to a data centre or other critical operations building, the architects gave us quite a bit of space to get our services in. Both the mechanical room and boiler room are large for a building of this size due to the redundant equipment," adds Liu. Another key concern for this building is security. "There's quite a bit of flight and personnel logistics for around the world that are managed from this location, so security has far-reaching consequences," says Vaughn Wilson, manager of electronic safety and security at Smith + Andersen. "There are multiple layers of electronic credential access; employees and guests are fully documented upon arrival and recorded visually; there's 24-hour manual and CCTV surveillance." Finally, fitting such a high-security facility into the neighbourhood was part of the challenge in preparing a suitable streetscape, says Peter Kaudewitz, principal of PF Kaudewitz Landscape Architects Ltd. "An informal planting scenario" of native and ornamental plants, including red maples, red oaks, white spruce, white cedars and Bradford pear trees, are "mixed in" with the fencing and security bollards around the perimeter. "We went with material that would grow in place; this building is something that will last a long time." n Location 99 Ironbridge Road, Brampton, Ontario Owner/Developer Air Canada Architect ZAS Architects + Interiors Inc. Construction manager Orlando Corporation Structural Consultant MMM Group Ltd. Mechanical/Electrical/ Security/Data Consultant Smith + Andersen Landscape Architect PF Kaudewitz Landscape Architects Ltd. acoustic consultant Swallow Acoustic Consultants Ltd. Total Area 75,000 square feet Total Project Cost $37 million december 2013 /75 13-11-15 4:04 PM