Projects in British Columbia nabbed top honours in the Canadian Design-Build Institute’s (CDBI) 8th annual awards of excellence.
Canadian Design-Build Institute awards
Projects in British Columbia nabbed top honours in the Canadian Design-Build Institute’s (CDBI) 8th annual awards of excellence.
The award in the community development category went to Bird Design-Build Ltd. for the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver. In the industrial category, the winner was Omicron Architecture Engineering Construction Ltd. for the Whistler transit operations and maintenance facility.
The awards are being presented in Montreal today (Oct. 1) during the institute’s 2010 national design-build conference.
In a backgrounder, the CDBI said the sports centre project demonstrated “a text-book” design-build approach to an arena design challenge. The team included Kasian Architects/HOK Architects. The owner is UBC Property Trust.
“Upon closer inspection, it became evident that a number of clever features had been integrated and thus made the design stand out.”
The institute said the project team managed to provide a number of special innovations uncommon in ice arenas, “making the facility truly unique and multi-functional.”
The arena can be converted into a 7,500-place performance venue with expandable seating and clear sightlines, acoustic control and staging. The rink itself can function both as an Olympic-sized as well as NHL-sized facility.
“The design team worked with the owner and subtrades in a true design-build approach,” the institute said. The project was completed ahead of schedule and on budget.
The 25,000-square-foot Whistler facility includes maintenance and administration buildings, bus wash-dry bays, hydrogen and diesel refuelling stations and covered parking for 50 buses. Owner is BC Transit.
“The technical innovation and the challenges of site and circumstances illustrated what is possible when an elite management design and building team work closely together, even changing approaches after project start, in order to satisfy a very tight delivery date as well as a tight budget.”
The project was delivered on time and under budget. Omicron acted both as design-builder and consultant.
INFRASTRUCTURE ONTARIO
The Durham consolidated courthouse project was the runner-up in the community development category in the Canadian Design-Build Institute’s annual awards of excellence.
The runners-up this year were PCL Constructors Canada Inc. for the Durham consolidated courthouse in Oshawa in the community development category and Construction Premiere Inc. for the Cascade Group Tissu-Lachute consumer paper facility in Lachute, Que. in the industrial category.
The institute said the Infrastructure Ontario design-build-finance-maintain courthouse project was of interest “not only for its design solutions but also for the complete project cycle services offered by the consortium which implemented the project.”
The team included WZMH Architects.
The building contains 33 courtrooms, prisoner holding rooms and judicial offices as well as other facilities.
“As can be expected for this type of facility, the design process underwent several reconfigurations,” the institute said.
The project achieved substantial completion on schedule, despite a five-week labour stoppage.
The Lachute project, delivered by a team that included consultants Blouin Tardif Architecture Environnement, included a 75,000-square-foot expansion at the plant, which has been producing paper products since 1880.
The plant is said to be the first in the North American paper industry to achieve LEED certification.
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