Sparkling Hill Resort earns a shiny Award of Excellence

The Sparkling Hill Resort near Vernon, B.C. has not only won a Silver Award of Excellence from Vancouver Regional Construction Association, but it has also won acclaim from other groups.

For example, this year it won the 2011 Senses Wellness Award for Best Spa Resort.

It is the only resort in North America to ever win the award.

Building the unique 250,000 square foot spa resort was a special challenge for PCL Westcoast Constructors Inc. and Kelowna-based project manager, Rupert Marshall.

It was, he said, one of the most interesting projects he has worked on.

This year, PCL won the award for a general contractor working on a project worth more than $40 million.

Construction costs at Sparkling Hill were $75 million.

Only 20 minutes from the Kelowna Airport, Sparkling Hill is cut into the granite top of Royce Mountain, about 15 kilometres from Vernon and overlooking Lake Okanagan.

It is an up-market European-style spa resort, the likes of which has never before been seen anywhere in Canada.

Besides the luxurious suites, recreational facilities and dining options, the resort offers such extras as a Kneipp Waterway pool.

This is designed for strolling knee-deep in changing water temperatures.

There is a cold sauna, something new to Canada, but popular in Europe.

It involves spending up to three minutes in a room set at -110 degrees Celsius.

There is also a Kurspa.

This offers 40,000 square feet of amenities with 48 treatment rooms and seven saunas and steam rooms.

The name Sparkling Hill is tied directly to the resort’s design.

The owner of the resort is Gernot Langes-Swarovski, creator of the world-famous crystal artwork and jewellery line.

As might be expected, crystal plays a big role in the hotel’s design.

There are more than 3.5 million crystals installed in the resort.

The Sparking Hill hotel structure is primarily cast-in-place reinforced concrete.

More than 11,000 square metres of concrete were poured in 50,500 square feet of formwork over a 14-month period.

About 1.3 million kilograms of reinforcing steel were placed.

Challenges included:

Starting the project with very preliminary design drawings. To make it even more interesting, the design team was not controlled by PCL;

An existing excavation required substantial modifications to upgrade for new seismic requirements. There were also design alterations, which delayed the project into the worst winter the Okanagan had seen in many years with record snowfalls;

The owner requested an accelerated schedule, which required an additional shift. The owner directly procured many items, such as light fittings from Europe and furniture from China. They arrived late and required re-work prior to installation;

PCL was required to provide a high-angle rescue team, as the local fire department didn’t provide that service.

The unique entrance area handed the PCL team some of the toughest challenges on the job, but is also a highlight of the structure.

It is a four-storey piece of glass art that can be seen from as far as 20 kilometres away.

It is designed to resemble a huge crystal and has been described as a portion of an asymmetric geodesic sphere.

Laminated glass triangles are supported by spider clips fastened to a tension wire system.

That, in turn, is connected to a tubular structural steel frame. This was not a simple matter.

The survey team that worked on it won an award from the Southern Interior Construction Association for their innovative survey methods.

Modern Steel Construction Magazine, voice of the American Institute of Steel Construction, featured it in their January 2010 issue.

The architect was Cannon Design of Vancouver.

Engineers were Read Jones Christoffersen of Victoria and the steel detailer was DECCON Steel Detailing Services of Surrey.

Both the owner and the contractor wound up happy at the end.

“Despite the challenging terrain, record snowfall and the fact the project was fast-tracked by five months, the team finished the self-performed concrete structure two weeks early and on budget,” Marshall said.

“The levels of quality expected were achieved, the surrounding terrain was intact and the owner was completely satisfied.”

Other awards won by the resort include the 2010 Event Planners Association Award of Excellence, 2010 Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board Award of Excellence and a 2011 BC Hydro PowerSmart Recognition Award.

In addition to the general contractor award given to PCL Westcoast Constructors the project has also garnered two other awards.

M&K Ready Mix Ltd. of Vernon has been given a Silver Supplier Award for the role it played in constructing the resort.

“Without M&K’s outstanding service the project could never have been the success it was,” said Marshall.

“They were just excellent”.

M&K had a $1.2 million contract on the project.

PCL had similar praise for CN Architectural Millwork and Construction Inc. of Vancouver, which has won a Silver President’s Trade Award for its work at the resort.

The company also had a $1.2 million contract.