Massive Saanich shopping centre redevelopment goes green

The massive redevelopment of Saanich’s 47-year-old Town and Country Shopping Centre is easily the most significant construction project on southern Vancouver Island, says a spokesperson for the company behind the overhaul.

Vancouver Island

“It’s a major statement of confidence in the south Island by our pension fund investors,” said Geoff Nagle, of Morguard Investments, which owns the well-positioned, 7.3-hectare site sitting between two major arteries leading in and out of Victoria.

Over the next three years the aging strip mall (once 225,000 square feet) and its parking lots will disappear and be replaced by the leading edge Uptown development.

By late 2011, there will be about 1.2-million square feet of retail and office space, much of it configured to look like a main street, leading to a central, clock-towered square.

“The overall project is going to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Neighbourhood Development Gold,” Nagle said from Vancouver.

Additionally, individual buildings will be LEED Silver and Gold certified and individual tenants will be urged to pursue LEED designations.

Uptown’s hard construction costs are pegged at $250 million, not including land value and consultants’ fees, said project director David Bayne of Vanbots (which became a division of England-based Carillion Pacific Construction Inc. in October).

That’s more than double the $121 million predicted in April.

Going the LEED route can increase overall costs by up to five per cent, Bayne said.

But typically those are upfront costs which, over time, are recouped in energy and water savings, said Hart Starr Crawford an engineer and LEED advisor with Vancouver’s Cobalt Engineering.

Morguard has embraced a philosophy of sustainability coupled with the LEED requirements, but in a sensible way.

“We’ll target where we get the most benefit,” Starr Crawford said.

Green roofs will be used on a number of Uptown’s low-rise buildings. Most will have flat, ground cover, but one building will feature an accessible roof where people can meet.

An integrated, in-water collection system will harvest the Island’s abundant precipitation, which will be used to irrigate the green roofs and the vegetation accenting Uptown.

A district energy loop that collects dumped heating and cooling waste, will enable energy to be transferred from building-to-building.

“It’s not worth investing in providing services to outlying buildings,” Starr Crawford explained.

And a transportation plan will be developed to encourage clients to bus, cycle or walk to Uptown.

More than 1,000 bus trips each week currently pass the site and the Galloping Goose bike and pedestrian trail delivers additional access for potential customers.

Much of the parking will be underground.

Uptown will also feature one of Canada’s largest and greenest Wal-Marts, due to open in the summer of 2010.

At 220,000-square-feet, the Supercentre will be Uptown’s main anchor. A regular Wal-Mart is about 107,000 square feet.

The Wal-Mart’s design, being done by Cobalt, will be used as a green prototype for future Wal-Marts, said Starr Crawford.

In late November, 130 union and non-union employees were working beneath the project’s three cranes.

Over the next six months, 300 workers will be on site.

It hasn’t been difficult finding workers.

Earlier this year, several large projects were halted including the Langford’s West Hills residential development, .

“Capella was cancelled on a Friday. We were talking to managers on Monday,” said Bayne, an engineer with almost 45 years of experience in the construction industry.

The economic downtown has also squelched Uptown’s plans for about 500,000 square feet of residential space.

“In this market, the timing of the residential is in question,” Nagle said. “No one knows when the residential will go ahead.”

But Phase 1A, which includes the Wal-Mart roof and the ground floor of Main Street continues.

Three-quarters of the site has been excavated and invited trades and pre-qualified companies will be bidding in early 2009 for Phase 1B, which includes three of Uptown’s mini-anchors, Shoppers Drug Mart, Best Buy and Future Shop, banks and about 25 businesses.

Most of the major trades to date have been Victoria-based companies.

In Phase 2, the existing businesses will be demolished and further commercial/retail units will be built.

Transforming Town and Country into Uptown will be Bayne’s swan song.

He moved from Toronto in July to oversee the project, which has presented one major challenge.

“Access and egress to the existing shops,” he said. “We have to keep the mall alive.”

The Wal-Mart, one of the highest-grossing in Canada, continues to operate along with six other businesses.

As construction proceeds, parking is relocated and temporary roads have to be built. “We’re spending a lot of money to keep the businesses active,” Bayne said.