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J UNE 2017 | 67 Kelowna Police Services Building RENDERINGS COURTESY KASIAN ARCHITECTURE F oresight is one word that springs to mind when it comes to the new three-storey Kelowna Police Services Building in B.C. Located in one of Canada's fastest- growing cities, it was essential that the new RCMP headquarters would be able to keep pace with the safety needs of the community, not only today, but into the future. "The existing RCMP building was much too small to serve the members, so the City and RCMP decided a new building was necessary as the population continues to expand," says Andrew Gibbs, senior project manager with the City of Kelowna. Indeed, the RCMP had long outgrown its original 1960s detachment on 350 Doyle Avenue, so in 2011, when planning for the building began, it wasn't a moment too soon. The new 90,000-square-foot building – home to a high-tech lab, library, armoury/high-security storage facility, prison, forensic laboratory and offices – would finally bring three RCMP locations together under one roof, significantly improve communications as well as efficiencies and effectiveness of police services in Kelowna. "The public areas of the building – from visitor parking and property retrieval to the lobby interview rooms and a civilian fingerprinting room – will also increase service levels to the community," explains Anita Rideout, client services supervisor with the City of Kelowna. After a four-month design process by three prequalified design-build teams, Bird Design-Build Construction Inc. was selected. A design-build selection process was used in order to address the extensive and detailed requirements for this high-security facility in a way that ensured strong control over project costs. From the very beginning, technical input by specialist consultants and contractors, including extensive consultation with the RCMP, helped ensure the project ran smoothly and would eventually serve the detachment and the community for many years to come. This particular site was chosen as it is close to the downtown core and has a couple of major routes of access. "We needed to find a large enough piece of land to build on. As the first new development in a residential and commercial area we wanted to establish a presence on the street in a changing neighbourhood," says Gibbs. "Our approach was to understand the context and to create an inspiring building that would have a sense of civic pride. Being located on a major intersection, the building needed to be an exclamation mark. It was about balancing the requirements of the RCMP and, as a public building, create a sense of transparency and openness," say Michael McDonald, executive VP at Kasian. The brick, wood, glass and metal building complements the rustic landscape of the Okanagan with earthy tones and materials sourced locally as much as possible. Extensive glazing lets the light in and enhances a sense of openness, while the long slender wood columns of the canopy brings warmth, accentuates the public space on the corner and breaks up the building vertically. Due to the climate of the Okanagan, TOMTAR Roofing installed a TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin) roof on the facility. This solar-heat reflective by NATALIE BRUCKNER-MENCHELLI Kelowna Police Services Building LOCATION Clement Ave and Richter Street, Kelowna, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER City of Kelowna PROJECT MANAGER Colliers Project Leaders ARCHITECT Kasian Architecture DESIGN-BUILD CONTRACTOR Bird Design-Build Construction STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Weiler Smith Bowers Consulting Structural Engineers MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Stantec CIVIL CONSULTANT Aplin & Martin Consultants Ltd. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Bench Site Design Inc. TOTAL SIZE 90,000 square feet TOTAL COST $48 million

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