SYMMETRY DERMATOLOGY

Arrow worked closely with Plan Works Architecture and Southward Developments on the engineering and development of the new Symmetry Dermatology medical facility. The owner was seeking a state-of-the-art facility to house his dermatology practice in a precast turnkey property. In addition to the building tenant improvements, the owner requested both an underground and above-ground parking lot. This proved challenging due to the space restrictions of the lot and the close proximity to neighbouring buildings that shared access to the property.

Arrow was responsible for the logistics of the property. The civil team designed the grading, put in measures to prevent flooding, installed inspection ports as opposed to manholes, and planned carefully to reduce amount of earthworks to save the client money. The interior of the building needed to meet the highest safety standards for a medical facility and required precision electrical engineering to support the high-end equipment.

As the project moved forward, the owner requested a change of design so that he could operate out of the entire building instead of just the top floor. With some redesigning, Arrow was able to utilize shared spaces to save the client money, and reduce the amount of change orders necessary.

“The design of the base building and the tenant improvement was done by different designers. Because we were working on both we did everything we could to reconfigure the work in a way that would reduce any redundancies in order to save the owner money.”

CASA Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health provides mental health services for infants, children, adolescents, and their families in the Edmonton, Alberta area. In summer 2014, CASA secured enough government funding and support for the redevelopment of its CASA Centre. At the time, the existing facility had been in operation for over 60 years and was in need of a complete overhaul.

Arrow was brought in for support with the design and construction management of this new facility in Edmonton. When designing the new layout, both the mechanical and electrical engineering departments considered the needs of the CASA Foundation, but also those of the children and families who would spend time in the building.

Such consideration meant researching and carefully considering the lighting design. Each room was equipped with multi-level dimming options and variable colour-changing LEDs to best assist with mood stabilization and guest comfort. Also, the mechanical team ensured each room had advanced temperature and humidity control providing users a high level of control over the environment.

As the project evolved, additional funding was secured, which enabled more of CASA’s needs to be met—meaning more project changes. Arrow’s team remained flexible and responsive to these changes ensuring the construction schedule was minimally impacted while CASA’s needs were met.

“Seeing the final product, how great the building looks, and how positive everyone is about it is really rewarding. It’s such a welcoming and warm environment and the people are genuinely happy to be there.”

–Kevin Mattai, Senior Project Manager, Electrical.

The Kennedale Traffic Operations project demonstrates the capabilities and knowledge of the mechanical design team in municipal shop / office spaces and LEED® documentation.

This project combined two sites, and four separate buildings. Acting as a hub for City of Edmonton traffic operations, the Kennedale Traffic Operations site accommodates the relocated and consolidated key facilities:  Signing Shop (overhead signs, barricades, detour and sign offices), Pipe and Paint Shop (DMS storage, road paint, pipe storage), Parking Meters, Vehicle Garages, Stores and Administration Offices and Staff Support Areas.

Traffic Field Operations building provides services for the fabrication and installation of the wide variety of street signs and parking meters, pavement markings and line stripping, as well as various temporary detour and road construction information signs and barricades throughout the City of Edmonton.

Arrow mechanical team worked alongside the entire project team to incorporate all of the program requirements in the new combined facility, collaborating with each of the unique City departments.

As the project was striving to meet the higher levels of LEED® Certification, our mechanical and energy modeling teams worked relentlessly to adjust design, model systems and follow through on installation and formal documentation.

As a reward for the efforts, this facility achieved LEED® Gold certification.  At the time, this became the largest LEED® Gold building in the City of Edmonton inventory; a unique and satisfying moniker for the entire project team.

According to the City, “the project came in under budget by nearly $1 million, a savings that was returned back to the City for future Transportation project.”

This 56,000 SF multi-use facility is host to the City of Edmonton Drainage Services maintenance and repair departments, providing full office, workshop and storage space.  With the budget stretched, our project team is challenged with finding creative solutions to meet the project requirements within the set parameters.  Our mechanical and electrical teams are equal to the task and are proud to be able to deliver quality designs for ventilation, plumbing, heating, cooling, lighting and power systems with limited resources.

This project is currently operating within the proposed budget. Design was completed in the summer of 2014 with construction completed in 2015.

As part of their continuous improvement program and operational enhancements, the City of Edmonton is upgrading hoists in many of their transit garage and maintenance facilities.  Under numerous separate projects (Ferrrier Garage, Mitchell Garage, Westwood Garage, and Kennedale Fleet Services), Arrow is providing detailed mechanical and electrical engineering to accommodate these upgrades. Working closely with maintenance staff and other stakeholders our project team is delivering comprehensive contract documents and ongoing construction contract administration for these projects.

Currently, these projects are on budget and are at various stages of design and construction, with the last phase completed in 2015.

Almost ten years ago, Lac Ste. Anne County identified a need for new administration space; after years of deliberation and planning, work was approved by county residents. Prior to construction, Lac Ste. Anne County staff members were spread across three aging buildings with cramped internal infrastructure. Arrow acted as Structural, Mechanical and Civil consultants, collaborating with A&E Architecture.  At an impressive 24,000 SF spread across a single floor, the new Lac Ste. Anne Country Admin building contains council chambers for the Lac Ste. Anne County Council complete with 20 foot ceilings, as well as administrative offices for various Lac Ste. Anne County staff. As storage space was a significant issue in the existing space, with records being stored in unheated storage containers, the new design ensured that there was ample storage for records.

Arrow’s Structural team designed the timber frame structure of the county building, chosen due to its economical nature and the ease with which this could be delivered by the local contractor team.

Additionally, the design of foundations, elevate floors, the walls and the steep roof structure fell to Arrow’s Structural group. Because of the wood frame structure, interior walls were required to be load-bearing, requiring significant coordination between Structural team members and the Architectural team.  Mechanical design required efficient HVAC systems throughout the building, designing with occupant comfort at front of mind. Utilizing very rough topographical information, Arrow’s Civil team worked create optimal drainage and aesthetics. Preparation of drawings for earthwork rough grading and servicing were prepared separate from the General Contractors finished grades, subsequently providing the ability to tender scopes separately, resulting in scheduling advantages. Given the extremely tight budget on this project, our team was required to assist the county and architect with optimization options, in the pursuit of alleviated budgetary stress.

The Stars Ambulance Hangar project demonstrates the capabilities of our mechanical design team in the construction of emergency response facilities and aircraft hangars.

Arrow worked in collaboration with Hodgson Schilf Architects Inc. on this tenant improvement to an existing 18,000 SF aircraft hangar located at the Edmonton International Airport. Specific changes were required on an existing hangar in order to accommodate Stars’ emergency response control centre requirements.

Mechanical services provided for the STARS Air Ambulance Hangar included plumbing and drainage system design; heating and cooling system design; and ventilation, supply and exhaust system design; and a backup / emergency generator. Due to changes in scope, our team worked to redesign the ventilation system before project completion.

The final mechanical construction cost for this project was in line with the established budget, although allowances were made for changes to the scope of the project. Our team delivered all of the required services on schedule, and this project was completed in the summer of 2012.

The EIA Fire hall provides services for the area encompassed by EIA’s various hangars, office and maintenance facilities and the airport itself. In order to facilitate larger crash rescue vehicles, additional space was required to the existing EIA fire hall. Arrow’s Mechanical team worked to design upgrades and addition to the heating and ventilation systems throughout existing and new space; specifically within the apparatus bay, heating and ventilation system additions were required, including modifications and additions to the vehicle ventilation system.

Throughout design, our team worked to reuse existing systems to facilitate the additional space they were required to serve. Minimal disruptions to operations were key to project success as the fire hall was required to remain fully operational throughout construction, so a phased approach was adopted to facilitate this and ensure minimal disruption. Given that this is secure airport space, our team had to work with airport authorities to minimal disruption and security considerations were front of mind.

Working alongside the rest of the design team, Arrow’s Civil team worked to deliver civil design requirements for the expansion of the EIA Fire Hall. Arrow’s Civil team worked to ensure that the airside component of the fire hall remain fully accessible at all times, as crews and emergency response vehicles had to enter and exit as required.

The East Campus Village project demonstrates the capabilities and knowledge of the mechanical design team in LEED® documentation and low-rise residential projects. This project also demonstrated the ability to follow University of Alberta standards and meet their fast-paced deadlines. This project has achieved four Green Globes (73%).

LEED® design provided plumbing, heating, and ventilation for four separate low-rise, student-residence buildings that included bedrooms, living areas, kitchens, washrooms, and common hallways. The plumbing design featured drain water heat recovery and low-flow plumbing fixtures. The ventilation design utilized energy modelling software, EE4, to determine an economical and efficient ventilation system that best suited the project: a high-efficient indirect-fired make-up air unit and central exhaust with heat recovery. To achieve greater thermal comfort, the design also included perimeter heating for these high performance building envelopes.

The final mechanical construction cost was in line with the established budget and completed on schedule, which allowed the University of Alberta to receive occupancy in time for their students to move in for the start of the 2011-2012 academic year.

Arrow’s Mechanical, Electrical and Civil project teams were pleased to have been invited to return to participate in the development of 89th Avenue Student Housing, further to our work on East Campus Village. Delivered using a design-build process 89th Avenue Student Housing is comprised of two buildings, with 244 beds located throughout 72 suites. A successful example of a collaborative design-build, construction on 89th Avenue Student Housing construction was completed in late 2013.

Arrow’s Mechanical team worked alongside Architecture | Tkalcic Bengert to deliver design for a modernization and addition to Ecole J.H. Picard Elementary / Junior / Senior High School in Edmonton, AB. Originally constructed in the 1970’s, Ecole J.H. Picard requires significant upgrades in order to maintain its presence as the only Catholic School in Western Canada who provides French Immersion from Kindergarten to Grade 12. The scope of the modernization requires that Arrow’s Mechanical team design revise air systems and plumbing and add air conditioning in administration areas, classrooms, various laboratories, the career and tech studies centre, the existing gym, as well as facilitating a small addition to the entryway and the relocation of the cafeteria from one floor to another.

As the school is to be fully occupied throughout construction, our design team has had to consider occupant comfort and functionality of existing spaced in order to ensure that the school is operational throughout construction; these considerations have taken the form of zoned air systems, designed to ensure wings are fully independent from one another, so that if one wing is ‘under construction’ another wing is functional and not affected by construction. Additionally, our team worked to remove the existing steam boiler, and designed its replacement in the form of a more efficient and easier to maintain hydronic system.

No cost savings exercises were required for Ecole J.H. Picard, as this project is currently under budget. Budgetary requirements were taken into consideration by our Mechanical team throughout design.