Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/755184
C A M B I E F I R E H A L L N O . 3 A M B U L A N C E S T A T I O N N O . 2 5 0 DECEMBER 2016 | 85 Cambie Fire Hall No. 3 & Ambulance Services RENDERING COURTESY CITY OF RICHMOND Cambie Fire Hall No. 3 & Ambulance Services by PETER STENNING A s anyone working in the civil, structural and construction realms will attest, developing a new fire hall is a daunting task; building to post disaster standards is downright complicated, and when elements such as integrating other services are added, only professionals at the top of their game can make the project a success. All these elements and more came into play with the development of the $22.3-million Cambie Fire Hall No. 3 & Ambulance Services, a 25,000-square- foot LEED Gold facility that was designed to house not only Richmond Fire-Rescue vehicles but also up to six ambulances as well as offices, kitchen and fitness/wellness areas – dedicated space for both user groups. Richmond City Hall's idea to develop such a one-of-a-kind fire hall goes back to 2008, after it had engaged BC Emergency Health Services (the building would replace its Station 250 about a kilometre away). "We thought it was a wonderful collaboration of services, and ultimately a 20-year lease agreement with B.C. Emergency Services was signed, making the project possible," says John McGowan, acting general manager, law and community safety, City of Richmond. The hall would serve a booming community to the south and replace the decades-old Bridgeport Fire Hall No.3, completing a full set of new, disaster-ready fire halls in the city once Richmond's main hall, Fire Hall No. 1, is ready for operation. Richmond Fire-Rescue will use the soon-to-be completed facility as its principal training centre, which also accommodates emergency vehicle technicians with two repair bays in addition to the two fire truck bays. Aside from the enormous technical requirements of the facility, visual appeal was one of the City's priorities, and to this end DGBK Architects and Alberta partner S2 Architecture developed the building to be a complex configuration of rectangular and horizontal architectural shapes grouped around the vehicle bay doors, projecting an almost academic appearance, save for the unmistakable red motifs designating the facility as a fire hall. "It turned out to be a simple, elegant and pleasing design," says McGowan. Robert Lange, partner, DGBK Architects, says, "By listening carefully to the client through the design process, we were able to create a design that immediately resonated with Richmond Fire-Rescue and their vision for Hall No. 3. The first design we produced met with resounding approval by RFR and City Council, and kept us on schedule through the rezoning process." In order to build the new facility, the City had to rezone three vacant residential properties on Cambie Road – but that was only the start of the challenges. "A lot of research on our part and the architects was undertaken, including extensive study of fire halls in eastern Canada," says McGowan. DGBK approached the integrated aspects of the project by designing the ambulance station to have its own kitchen and office space, with the flexibility necessary to be converted to fire hall usage in the future if required. It was originally intended for the fire hall to be a steel structure, but seismic irregularity requirements led to a design of concrete shear walls (for rigidity) and concrete floor slabs supported by steel beams. "We also did extensive 3D modelling to ensure the concrete hose tower and shear walls met post-disaster standards," says Trevor Whitney, project engineer for Bush, Bohlman & Partners LLP. The ground upon which the fire hall would sit is classic Richmond: soft silt layers and liquefiable sand. "So we densified the ground with stone columns, plus we raised the site 1.5 metres to account for flooding possibilities, and all of this meant the load distribution had to be dealt with via a complex raft-like foundation four-feet deep in some areas," says Whitney. Roy Skeet, engineering designer at Aplin & Martin Consultants Ltd., summarizes the project by describing three main challenges facing his company. "In order to abide by LEED Gold standards we made use of coalescing plates, filters and onsite swales for water quality," he says. Second, foam agents in water discharged from fire hydrants at a rate of 350 gallons per minute for training purposes had to be treated rather than simply drained into the sewer system, "so we built a two-metre-deep detention tank with a trapping hood," says Skeet. Third, flex ball expansion joints and other measures had to be used so that piping throughout the fire hall would withstand earthquakes. The mechanical experts at MCW Consultants Ltd. were equally tasked by LEED and program requirements, beginning with the creation of a maintenance bay for the fire trucks that was 2.5-metres taller than traditional bays and outfitted with lube systems, waste oil facilities and a flammable storage room. "Attention to detail was crucial; all items within the flammable storage room needed to be explosion proof meaning the ventilation fan was constructed of non- ferrous materials so as not to generate sparks, and appropriate local/remote annunciation of noxious gas build-up was required should the fan ever fail," says MCW project manager Rob Gregg. MCW provided back-up electric boilers and a rooftop mounted fluid cooler that would allow the heating and cooling systems of the building to operate in the event the district energy system was unavailable. In order to meet the targeted LEED credits for energy performance, it was necessary to employ the use of water-to-water heat pumps to generate heating and domestic hot water from the low temperature district energy system. "All offices, sleeping areas and other interior spaces were heated and cooled with traditional water-to-air heat pumps, tailored to use a glycol-based condenser water in order to run on lower loop temperatures," says Gregg. Meanwhile, AES Corporation provided a range of electrical engineers services, including lighting and lighting controls, data/voice cabling and outlets, fire alarm system, fire rescue services specialty systems and exit and emergency lighting. All parties credit Stuart Olson for constructing the enormously complex Cambie Fire Hall No. 3 & Ambulance Services on schedule for December occupancy, and once completed, the facility, in the worst case scenario, will remain fully functional – even without district or regional power. "Not only have we replaced a fire hall that was built in the 1940s and had reached the end of its useful life, but the new building is energy efficient, unique and far better equipped to serve the community," says McGowan. "We're excited to get it up and running." A LOCATION 9680 Cambie Road, Richmond, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER City of Richmond ARCHITECTS DGBK Architects / S2 Architecture CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Stuart Olson STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Bush, Bohlman & Partners LLP MECHANICAL CONSULTANT MCW Consultants Ltd. ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT AES Corporation GEOTECHNICAL CONSULTANT WSP Canada CIVIL CONSULTANT Aplin & Martin Consultants Ltd. TOTAL SIZE 25,000 square feet TOTAL COST $22.3 million