Award

December 2013

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photos: lumic photo North Vancouver Civic Centre by Robin Brunet he North Vancouver Civic Centre in B.C. has been causing quite a stir. "Upon its completion, and since then, we've been getting nothing but enthusiastic comments from visitors who think what we achieved is a very useful, functional, and definitely visually striking space," says Glenn Stainton, the City of North Vancouver's manager of city facilities. Stainton is referring to the Civic Centre complex that is comprised of the North Vancouver City Hall and Library. Phase I, completed in 2008, involved the construction of a new library building on the north side of the plaza. The second phase included the renovation and seismic upgrading of the original city hall and old library building, and the construction of a grand atrium connecting the two. From a design viewpoint, the renovation is groundbreaking for the extensive use of wood throughout the new Civic Centre: 10,000 cubic feet of wood was used weighing 115 metric tonnes (which the City points out represents 230 metric tonnes of stored CO2 in the new building structure). Moreover, the atrium roof structure is built of cross laminations of large format Laminated Strand Lumber (LSL). "The original intention was to use Cross Laminated Timber, but since none was available in the quantities we required for the atrium we took it upon ourselves to develop our own panels, which T North Vancouver Civic Centre p88-91Queeny_NVan Civic_Atta.indd 89 were manufactured by StructureCraft Builders and held together with screws as well as glue," says Eric Karsh, principal of Equilibrium Consulting Inc. MGA Architecture was responsible for the ambitious undertaking, and Stainton recalls how that firm was selected: "We used a standard city request for proposal and narrowed it down to two firms: McFarland Green & Bigger and one other. MGB won out not on their experience, but their innovative proposal. This was a very challenging project, during which three key firms underwent internal turmoil and mergers with turnover in staff, making the entire construction process difficult to manage." Stainton notes that MGB "split apart during the project and MGA Architecture was formed - but the project was completed under MGB as the architectural firm on record." City policymakers weren't entirely convinced about the viability of the amount of wood proposed for the project. "We were very skeptical," acknowledges Stainton. "But the City employed a peer review structural consultant to review the design and to reassure us that it would be safe - and it was." As for the actual building process, Stainton remarks, "The general contractor, a major sub-contractor, and MGB all underwent mergers and staff turnover that affected the project. The project over the term of construction had three different superintendents, which hurt continuity. In the end, however, Stuart Olson Dominion Construction and MGB were able to complete the work. The other challenges involved the construction of a predominantly wood building during a Vancouver rainy season while large portions of the building remained occupied." New construction totalled 11,000 square feet, and renovation totalled 27,000 square feet. Construction began in July 2010 and ended in may 2012. All parties agree that phasing was the most challenging aspect of the renovation. "The old library was empty but City Hall remained open for operation, so all of our work was done in sections, with different areas of City Hall having to be emptied out, worked on, and then refilled as the work progressed to other areas," says Karsh. The seismic upgrading included the use of fibre-reinforced polymer wrapping to upgrade the existing concrete moment frames of the original library and City Hall buildings. "Using the polymer was far more speedy and less disruptive and costly than the traditional december 2013    /89 13-11-15 4:13 PM

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