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86 | AUGUST 2017 Lord Strathcona Elementary School Seismic Upgrade RENDERINGS COURTESY COLBORNE ARCHITECTURAL GROUP PACIFIC INC. Lord Strathcona Elementary School Seismic Upgrade by ROBIN BRUNET I nvolved parties stress that East Vancouver's Lord Strathcona Elementary School is not merely undergoing a seismic upgrade – although the work in this regard alone is noteworthy and has resulted in a Canadian "first" – but a comprehensive renewal. Originally constructed in 1891, Lord Strathcona is one of the oldest continuously operating schools in B.C. It is the only elementary school in the area and has legal heritage designation, which caused former education minister Peter Fassbender to remark when the renewal was announced in 2013 (and eight years after Lord Strathcona was deemed in need of seismic upgrading), "the school has served as an important neighbourhood focal point for over 122 years. This is a truly unique project." It has also turned out to be a significantly complex undertaking, according to Vancouver School Board project manager Noel McNally. "Usually with elementary schools we upgrade one or two buildings on any given site, but three out of five buildings at Lord Strathcona were required to be upgraded to host the school populations," he says. (For the record, the Community Centre Building and Building D are not part of the seismic upgrade and will be repurposed after the project is complete.) McNally goes on to note, "The heritage component required our work plans to be reviewed at the early design stages; plus, we would be adding elevators, ramps and bridges for accessibility and better connectivity. On top of that, we would reconfigure a lot of the learning space to suit 21st-century teaching practises, meaning instead of long corridors with rooms on either side we would create groupings of three to four classrooms linked to common spaces, ensuring the facility meets the needs of the school as it adopts the new B.C. Education curriculum." Another major complexity was keeping the school community on site during the project: Heatherbrae Builders Co. Ltd. renovated two of the buildings as swing spaces, with the intention of relocating classes and students there as needed while construction unfolded sequentially. "That worked out particularly well and also helped ensure student safety," says Richard Newell, principal of Colborne Architectural Group Pacific Inc. Given the complexity of the project, extensive engineering consultation and due diligence were conducted to assess the project requirements and to ensure completion within budget; this came after The Board of Education of School District #39 (Vancouver) and the Strathcona community conducted a visioning process to inform the school's evolution as a neighbourhood learning centre. Newell says, "of our three buildings, the one we refer to as 'Building A' is the largest; Building B contains the school auditorium and cafeteria, and Building C is the oldest facility on site. Seismic upgrades aside, A and B had been linked with a corridor that was replaced for better circulation and access to a new elevator. C was a stand-alone building, which we would link with a bridge to A. "Relocating services was also undertaken as a result of the seismic upgrades required, which in turn improved operational efficiency. For example, the central office and library were located in building E, but it made more sense for us to transfer these vital facilities to the main building, A. Also, the lower levels of both A and C were underused so were renovated as classrooms and supportive functions." Buildings A and B are of concrete and masonry construction that received standard seismic upgrades of shear walls and related components. Building C, however, is a 650-square- metre wood and masonry structure that provided Ausenco the chance to undertake Canada's first-ever base isolation seismic upgrade. Ausenco principal and structural engineer John Sherstobitoff explains, "Usually with seismic upgrading you strengthen and stiffen structures by installing new structural elements such as shear walls, but with base isolation a building such as C was softened with the installation of isolators that can move 250 millimetres in any direction during an earthquake and then re-centre – isolators significantly reduce the earthquake demand on the structure, which is vital to heritage structures whose owners are seeking little to no damage." Simply put, the Ausenco team designed a scheme that replaced the at-grade building slab with a stiff foundation, installed new concrete columns to tie into the existing perimeter stone walls, and then installed 30 isolators. "The first floor of timber was demolished and replaced with a new concrete floor, and then we jacked up the entire building and carefully transferred the load off the shoring onto the isolators, having saw- cut one third of the thickness of the stone wall perimeter to ensure that it would crack apart where we wanted it to crack," says Sherstobitoff. Ausenco's work on Building C would subsequently earn the company two awards of engineering excellence from the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies British Columbia. Sherstobitoff credits MMM Group (now WSP) for designing the mechanical and electrical components to accommodate the free movement of Building C during an earthquake. "We also had to ensure that the bridge linking it to the main building could accommodate movement," he says. Improvements to the outdoor space is yet another objective of the renewal. "For example, we're reclaiming a courtyard, once a service access to the west, and transforming it into a play area, which is an ideal function since the courtyard is internal and not beside any thoroughfares," says Newell. "We've also begun hard landscaping, and soft landscaping by PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc. around Building A has already started." When completed, the upgraded school will have the capacity for 510 students, including 60 in kindergarten and 450 in grades one to seven. There will also be additional space for a neighbourhood learning centre featuring a larger music room, youth and family counselling, enhanced library for French immersion, a performance space, out-of-school care and other community partner programs. As of July, work was focused on renewing Building A. "It's the last structure that requires upgrading, and we'll be finished in December," says McNally, adding that of the $1.5 billion the provincial government has spent since the seismic program commenced for Vancouver, Lord Strathcona is an especially memorable project: "It's a treasured facet of East Vancouver, and it's satisfying to know that our work will make the facility viable for perhaps another hundred years." A LOCATION 592 E Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER Vancouver School Board ARCHITECT Colborne Architectural Group Pacific Inc. GENERAL CONTRACTOR Heatherbrae Builders Co. Ltd. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Ausenco MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT WSP Canada LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc. HERITAGE CONSULTANT Robert Lemon Architects Inc. TOTAL SIZE 67,812 square feet TOTAL COST $26 million Green Demo.indd Proshot.indd

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