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Broadway + Fraser by Peter Caulfield COURTESY NSDA ARCHITECTS C onstruction and commissioning of a new supportive housing develop- ment in Vancouver – a 99-unit facil- ity for the homeless and those at risk of homelessness – is nearing completion. The building will provide 69 apart- ments for adults and 30 apartments for youth. Eight are handicapped units, four have two bedrooms and 87 are single units. The facility, which will be oper- ated by the Vancouver Native Housing Society ( VNHS), is targeting LEED Gold. It will also house the Broadway Youth Resource Centre (BYRC), which will be run by Pacific Community Resources Society (PCRS). Together with partner agencies, PCRS will provide support ser- vices for youth living in the building and also for at-risk youth in the East Broad- way neighbourhood. BYRC and the rental housing will have separate entrances, and will share underground parking. "Residents who will call this building home will be given the opportunity for a fresh start," says Dave Eddy, Vancouver Native Housing Society CEO. "We are looking forward to working alongside our partner, Pacific Community Resources Society, to cre- ate a safe and accepting environment, which will give our residents the best chance to take advantage of the services they need to provide them with a gate- way to a better life." The nine-storey building will have one storey of commercial space that can be divided up into as many as six sepa- rate retail units. Terra Housing Consultants, a devel- opment manager for non-profit orga- nizations, managed the scheduling and development of the project. Simon Davie, Terra partner, says Terra worked with the project team on rezoning for the site, and represented PCRS when it needed to temporarily relocate the BYRC for two years while the permanent location was being redeveloped. Terra also navigated the complex approvals process with the City of Van- couver to renovate the 8,000-square- foot temporary space at East Broadway and Slocan, to enable services to con- tinue without disruption. "[The proj- ect] was slow getting started after the initial design stage in 2007, and during the delay there were numerous adjust- ments that had to be made. Despite that, the team was able to bring off the proj- ect successfully," says Davie. Larry Adams, principal at NSDA Architects, says the building sits on the northwest corner of Fraser and East Broadway: "The site occupies the high- est point of land on the Broadway cor- ridor, on the top of the hill looking both east-west and north-south. You can see the building from Commercial Drive and, almost, from Granville Street." The exterior of the structure is sim- ple in design, but pleasing to the eye with light coloured brick, metal cladding and fibre cement panels. Like the outside, building materials on the inside, such as painted drywall and linoleum floors, are basic and built to last. Adams says the project faced a num- ber of design challenges. "The building has three components – rental housing, retail and the youth centre – each of which has its own unique and specific requirements," he says. "That meant the design of the building required the co-operation and co-ordination of all the different organizations that are involved. For example, the BYRC pro- grams, and therefore the organization's requirements, changed over time, which meant the design of their facilities had to change, too." MMM Group Limited provided all mechanical and electrical consulting services, including all sustainability consulting related to the energy usage and the mechanical/electrical systems. Peter Osuchowski, MMM principal, says the company encountered a num- ber of mechanical challenges on the project. "The mechanical systems were designed to meet high-energ y-effi- ciency targets, LEED Gold requirements and near carbon-neutral operation," he says. "As a result, all of the outdoor air for ventilation is ducted directly to all residential suites from a roof-mounted heat recovery ventilation unit." There is another heat recovery ven- tilation unit for the retail, amenity and administration areas. "Air exhausted from residential bathrooms and non- residential parts of the building will be used to pre-heat and pre-cool supply air through energy recovery wheels," Osuchowski says. The main energ y source for the building's mechanical systems is a geo- thermal heat pump system. Heating for the residential suites comes from a low temperature radiant floor heating system. Central ventilation air is fully air-conditioned in the summer season. A separate heating-only water-to-water heat pump unit preheats domestic hot water throughout the year. Total build- ing energy savings are estimated at 58 per cent over the baseline building. Nelson de Amaral, project man- ager with general contractor Darwin Construction (Canada) Ltd., says the project has an important First Nations component. "Shortly after the start of construction, there was a cedar brush blessing ceremony on the building site," de Amaral says. In addition, Darwin supported having Aboriginal workers from EMBERS (Eastside Movement for Business and Economic Renewal Soci- ety) Temporary Labor on the project, as part of the Blade Runner program. EMBERS is an economic development charity, and BladeRunners has helped construction contractors fill entry-level positions with motivated young people. Anca Cojocaru. MMM senior project engineer, says the project's energy- reduction targets were high. "The project is part of an initiative to lower overall greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020," she says. "To achieve those reductions, we used an integrated design process approach, which required close collaboration between the construction manager, the commissioning agent and the building operator." Jimmy Li of Fast + Epp, the structural consultant on the project, also credited the importance of co-operation on the project. "The meticulous planning and co-ordination between all consultants played a major role in the project's success," Li says. n LOCATION 2465 Fraser Street, Vancouver, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER Vancouver Native Housing Society PROJECT MANAGER Terra Housing Consultants Ltd. ARCHITECT NSDA Architects GENERAL CONTRACTOR Darwin Construction (Canada) Ltd. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Fast + Epp MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT MMM Group Limited. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Perry + Associates TOTAL AREA OF BUILDING 85,000 square feet CONSTRUCTION COST $22 million (approximately) AUGUST 2014 /101 Broadway + Fraser 2:38 PM