December 5, 2011

RHONDA PERRON, THE HARDMAN GROUP LIMITED

This multi-building business campus in in the Halifax suburb of Burnside, Nova Scotia is the first of its kind in Halifax for its scope and size, say project stakeholders.

Strong master plan needed for Halifax business complex built by Lindsay Construction

DON PROCTER

correspondent

At 60,000 square feet and three storeys tall, there is nothing out of the norm about the size of the first office building under construction as part of a six-building, 400,000 square foot business campus in Halifax.

But the new building will stand out for other reasons. For one, its distinctive perch atop the former home of a water tower at Burnside Drive and Wright Avenue, 15 minutes from downtown Halifax.

The elevated site has great views but challenging foundation conditions. To stabilize the slope an architectural retaining wall about 50 feet high will be installed on one side of the building.

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Because of that slope and the bedrock conditions, the building is designed with a slab on grade, rather than a deep foundation, although it will include a 50-vehicle, one-storey underground parkade, says Bill Hardman, president The Hardman Group Limited, the building’s developer.

The project, which started in April, has been fast-tracked for completion in December. The parcel of land (11 acres in all when the six buildings are completed) has presented a challenge even prior to construction.

Weaving through the development and building permits process is a case in point, explains Kirby Putnam, executive vice-president, Lindsay Construction, construction manager.

“It is a very unusual and rare site right in the heart of Burnside, an area known for individual office developments, not a multi-building business campus, which is the first of its kind in Halifax,” says Putnam.

Prior to construction start, one of the hurdles for the construction manager was creating a master plan for the campus which included organizing an infrastructure (roads, sewer/water/electrical and security, for example) to tie the complex together, he points out.

Hardman adds: “We spent a lot of time making sure we won’t duplicate costs, so putting up the second building (and others) will hopefully be a quicker process.”

“Everything is integrated today, whereas in the past you would have had three or four separate systems per building,” the developer points out.

Lindsay Construction is able to make up time to meet the speedy construction schedule because the company was also retained to do the main tenant (The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company) fit-up, says Putnam.

The new building is comprised of load-bearing tilt-up concrete with some structural steel framing and a curtainwall made of glass and lightweight aluminum panels.

With no major precast concrete producers within Halifax or the region, tilt-up concrete construction is common in the city. It consists of precast concrete which is cast on beds in the field and then tilted up into place, says Putman.

The building is also unusual because the developer is striving for a LEED Gold certification.

To meet that end, the building will feature:

•solar heating for domestic hot water;

•infloor radiant heating on the main floor;

•low-flow plumbing fixtures using reclaimed water and a 35,000 litre rainwater cistern;

•occupancy and daylighting sensors;

•insulation ranging from R-20 to R-30 throughout;

•electric car plug-ins and underground bicycle parking with showers and lockers.

Geothermal heating/cooling might be installed in later buildings but it proved difficult in the first building’s rocky terrain. A natural gas boiler system with 95 per cent efficiency was selected instead, which, according to Hardman, has a similar payback period.

Hardman says the idea of a “true business campus,” that features a central green space “as big as two football fields,” is to attract tenants that see the location as a place to keep staff satisfied and there for a long term. Construction timing of future buildings in the campus is dependent on market conditions. Burnside is the largest business/industrial park east of Montreal.

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