For their work on the redevelopment of Guildford Town Centre in Surrey, two companies have earned 2014 VRCA Silver Awards. Ledcor won in the general contractor over $55 million category.
The company has submitted the project to the Canada Green Building Council for LEED Gold certification.
"Pending a review of the mall’s one-year operating energy consumption reduction statistics, it will become the first LEED Gold shopping centre in Canada," said construction manager Dana Buchar.
The redevelopment’s design is environmentally-friendly with respect to transportation, energy, water and materials.
The shopping centre’s new green features include bicycle storage and change rooms for retail tenants and staff; electric car charging stations; an organic garbage collection system in the food court; low-flow water fixtures; and waste-heat recovery.
The redeveloped mall has a new green, tree-like motif inside and out.
"This was accomplished primarily by incorporating massive interior and exterior green walls – more than 60,000 plants – and water features throughout the centre," Buchar said.
Two exterior living walls were installed on the east and west sides of the pedestrian overpass over 104th Avenue.
"At 10,000 square feet in area, they are the largest of their kind of green wall in North America," Buchar said.
Made entirely from recycled materials, the living walls contain 120 different plant species in a hydroponic, soil-free environment.
The new centre court features two 1,500-square-foot green walls with 59 plant species around a waterfall.
Buchar said the green walls mitigate the urban heat island effect and improve energy efficiency.
Guildford Town Centre was built almost 50 years ago in the northeastern corner of Surrey.
Occupying a 55-acre site and costing $210 million, the project is one of the largest shopping centre redevelopments in Canada.
The project took place in two phases.
In phase one, Ledcor built a new 165,000-square foot Walmart Supercentre with roof-top parking and a two-level parkade.
The store was built partially below grade, to allow for the expanded design without going over the city’s height restrictions.
"This is a unique approach for Walmart and was specifically tailored to the Guildford site layout," said Buchar.
Phase two was a 405,000-square foot expansion with 75 new stores and a new food court.
In addition, the original centre underwent extensive renovations and now features new floors, ceilings, railings and soft seating.
Five new entrances were added and five others were renovated.
There are now eight new sets of escalators and two new glass-enclosed elevators.
Exterior upgrades to the centre were extensive and included complete renovation of its parking facilities.
"We stripped and re-laid parking lot asphalt and reconfigured the flow of pedestrian and vehicle traffic," Buchar said.
"And, we added new lighting, signage, landscaping, a green wall and line-painting."
Ledcor had a major hurdle to deal with.
"The main challenge was keeping the centre safe for all shoppers, employees and on-site personnel while it remained open during construction," Buchar said.
"Every day, there was an average of 30,000 shoppers and 350-400 workers in the mall."
The redevelopment project ran from March 2010 until June 2014, when Ledcor made application for substantial completion.
But, the company began its involvement much earlier.
"Ledcor was involved with the project starting in 2001, when we worked with (owner) Ivanhoé Cambridge and (architect) Musson Cattell Mackey on the design options that were available," said Buchar.
Ledcor acted as the construction manager through the pre-construction and tendering phases of the project, working with the consultants and Ivanhoe to develop the schedule and budget while it refined the design.
"Once all of the tenders were awarded, our role was solidified into a lump-sum prime contract, and ultimately we were the prime general contractor on the site," Buchar said.
"The project was done in two major phases, with two distinct agreements in place representing three minor phases and 49 micro-phases of activities."
The other winner of a Silver Award for the project was Ocean Concrete, in the manufacturers and suppliers category.
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