November 29, 2012

TERRAPLAN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS LTD.

Sustainable materials and green technologies were incorporated in many of the features in the Scholars’ Green Park in Mississauga, Ont. Located adjacent to the Sheridan College campus, the public park features a variety of concrete finishes and products. The project won a 2012 Ontario Concrete Award in the architectural hardscape category.

Ontario’s best in concrete awarded

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

An ambitious expansion at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, designed by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects and constructed by Eastern Construction Co. Ltd., is the recipient of the 2012 Ontario Concrete Award for architectural merit.

This category recognizes buildings or other structures in which the architectural considerations or design predominately influenced the overall project.

“Reinforced concrete was the material of choice to support the architectural intent,” said Gerry Harding, Eastern’s vice-president of business development.

“Concrete was utilized throughout the building’s structure from the foundations to the roof. “Concrete was also used as part of the finish material palette in select locations throughout the building.”

R.V. ANDERSON ASSOCIATES LTD.

The stormwater conveyance system in Toronto’s West Don Lands includes the entire underground infrastructure required to manage stormwater flow from the site into Lake Ontario and to support a future treatment facility. The project won a 2012 Ontario Concrete Award in the infrastructure category.

Completed in September at an estimated cost of $65 million, the project was undertaken by a team that included Yolles, a CH2M HILL company, and material suppliers St. Marys CBM and Armtec Ltd. Partnership.

The project was one of ten honoured in the annual awards program, which recognizes innovation in the use of concrete as a principal construction element as well as in the application of concrete technology.

In other architectural categories, winners were:
— Scholars’ Green Park, Mississauga. (Architectural hardscape). Located adjacent to the Sheridan College campus, the public park features various displays of concrete finishes, coloured concrete, specialty aggregates and FilterPave, a porous pavement system. The project team included architects gh3, Terraplan Landscape Architects Ltd., Aldershot Landscape Contractors, specialty contractor UCC Group Inc., and material supplier Dufferin Concrete, a division of Holcim (Canada) Inc.

— Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Bell Lightbox, Toronto. (Mid to high rise residential). A 42-storey condo tower rises above a five-storey podium, which houses cinemas and other TIFF facilities. Care was taken to incorporate architecturally finished concrete into exposed columns, ceilings and floors. The team included Kirkor Architects & Planners, Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg, Jablonsky, Ast and Partners, Daniels Corp, PCL Constructors Canada Inc., forming contractor C.I.P. Group and material supplier Innocon.

— CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory, Hamilton. (Institutional building). The anchor tenant for the McMaster Innovation Park, the three-storey building is a candidate for LEED Platinum. Radiant heating and cooling piping are buried in the thermal mass of the concrete ceiling slabs. Exposed concrete was used extensively in the structure, aiding a passive heating strategy in the building design. Exposed concrete masonry was used extensively for interior partitions and fire separations in both the labs and public corridors. The project team included Diamond Schmitt Architects, Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd., EllisDon, RES 2000 Structures Inc. and St. Marys CBM.

In the structural categories, winners were:

— Whitemans Creek Bridge, Brantford. (Structural design innovation). Undertaken for the west region of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, the bridge replacement project represents a synthesis of accelerated bridge construction, ultra-high performance concrete and fibre-reinforced polymer. The existing three-span concrete bridge was replaced with a single, 45-metre-span bridge, during a seven-week highway closure. The team included Delcan Corp., Dufferin Construction Co., a division of Holcim (Canada) Inc. and material suppliers Armtec Ltd. Partnership, Dufferin Concrete and Lafarge.

— West Don Lands storm water conveyance system, Toronto. (Infrastructure). Undertaken for Waterfront Toronto and Toronto Water, the project comprises the necessary infrastructure to convey, store and treat storm water. Various types of concrete were used in the project. The team included R.V. Anderson Associates Ltd., Eastern Construction Co. Ltd., tunneling contractor C & M McNally Engineering Corp, and material suppliers Dufferin Concrete and Munro Ltd.

In the materials and constructability category:

— Whole Foods Market Square One, Mississauga. (Material development & innovation). The grocery store’s 25,000-square-foot retail area incorporates low-shrinkage architectural concrete that was polished to expose decorative specialty aggregate. The team included Petroff Partnership Architects, exp Services Inc., B.M.I. Construction Co. Ltd., United Floor Co. Ltd. and St. Marys CBM.

— Maple Leaf Gardens remodernization, Toronto. (Specialty concrete applications). Undertaken for owners Loblaw Properties Ltd. and Ryerson University, the project used 17,000 cubic metres of ready-mix concrete utilizing 37 different mixes. The team included Turner Fleischer Architects Inc., BBB Architects, exp Services Inc., Buttcon Ltd., Hardrock Forming Co. and Dufferin Concrete.

— Courtney Park & Kennedy Road lane improvement, Mississauga. (Specialty concrete products). Severe rutting of the existing asphalt pavement in a turning lane prompted the city of Mississauga to undertake a fast-track concrete repair construction project. Macro-synthetic fibres were incorporated in the concrete mix design. The team included material testing engineers Coffey Geotechnics and Davroc Testing Laboratories Inc., Royal Ready Construction Ltd. and Royal Ready-Mix Inc.

In the sustainable concrete construction category, the winning project was the new Carlisle Street parking facility in St. Catharines. Various sustainable design strategies were incorporated in the project, which included both cast-in-place and precast concrete, specified to contain a minimum of 25 per cent supplementary cementitious materials. The team included Macdonald Zuberec Ensslen Architects Inc., Halsall Associates, Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd. and Dufferin Concrete.

The awards were presented at a banquet Nov. 28 held in conjunction with the Concrete Canada conference.

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