Williams Engineering Canada: Canadian engineering firm serving Edmonton, Yellowknife, Calgary, Red Deer, Saskatoon, Whitehorse, Kelowna, Abbotsford, Nanaimo, Vancouver, Victoria,

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Location | Abbotsford, British Columbia
Sector | Property
Market | Residential
Project Delivery Method: New Construction
Discipline | Mechanical

The Brighton at Westerleigh is located in West Abbotsford, British Columbia. This collection of townhomes have been designed to reflect an exterior Tudor-style with contemporary interiors and has the option of either a two or three bedroom suite layout. The Brighton is close to many amenities, including schools, recreation centres, and shopping centres. This particular townhome development also features its own pool, recreation centre, and clubhouse.

Williams Engineering Canada (WEC) provided mechanical schematic design, design development, building permit, and construction documents for heating, ventilation, and plumbing design. The townhomes’ mechanical systems consists of electric baseboard heat, electric hot water tanks and a continuous central re-circulation ventilator (CRV) system that provides ducted ventilation to each bedroom and common area.

“Our goal was to deliver a quality set of mechanical contract documents to our client while meeting their needs and schedules as the project was split up in many phases. The systems were designed with the client’s budget in mind and were discussed at the preliminary design concept stage.” – Derek Hyde, Project Manger

Although there were some unforeseen challenges with the project, our team engaged with Polygon to ensure that the project was a success.

“The greatest challenge faced with the project was the adoption of the new BCBC building code partially through construction and because of the phased schedule the new code had to be implemented into our existing design. This impacted the contract documents since they were already with the AHJ and changes had to be made. To resolve this we clearly communicated the requirements of the new code with our client and came up with the best possible solution to meet code requirements while ensuring their schedule and budget remained intact.” – Derek Hyde, Project Manger

This is the fourth phase of the Westerleigh residential development that WEC has worked on with Polygon. Charming Tudor-style architecture and elegant floor plans make it easy to see why these affordable townhomes are a popular choice in the expanding Fraser Valley.

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Location | Calgary, Alberta
Sector | Property
Market | Residential
Project Delivery Method: Building Envelope & Roofing Design Services
Discipline | Building Science

Over the past eight years Williams Engineering Canada (WEC) has had the pleasure of providing building envelope services for the Qualex Group of Companies. Recently WEC provided consulting engineering services from concept to completion for three high-rise tower developments located in Calgary, Alberta. These condominiums include Stella, Nova, and Luna Condominiums.

Our services entailed the design review of the building envelope and roofing detail drawings that were provided by BKDI Architects at the 50% and 95% stages. The design review portion of this project included WEC providing written recommendations for possible detail improvements as well as design consultation. At the project meetings WEC addressed design elements and various building envelope construction items that required specific attention, monitoring, or sequencing. The final building envelope design consisted of a panelized exterior insulation finish system. This innovative design was the first of its kind to be used in Calgary.

“The building has the first panel exterior insulation finish in Alberta, which substantially sped up contribution. The first tower alone saved four months of construction time.” – Randy Smith, Engineering Manager, Building Science

During the pre-construction review, WEC reviewed product data and material samples provided by the panel manufacturer in addition to thermal simulations, mock-ups, and testing. The design team worked closely together to identify energy efficiency measures and resolve existing building envelope issues as well as conduct quality control plant inspections of the window and panel manufacturing facilities.

“The detailing of the panels was extensive and extremely important so that the panels matched with all other systems that were in place. Many mock ups were required to ensure that everyone understood the detail involved in order to proceed with construction.” – Randy Smith, Engineering Manager, Building Science

During construction, WEC focused its review on the roofing system, parapets, construction joints, detailing of the air barrier, tie-ins between various building envelope components, and contractor workmanship. WEC also consulted with both the contractor and the sub-contractor regarding the construction process and provided comments and recommendations based on the site mock-up reviews. Commissioning of the building envelope was conducted through on-site inspections and testing.

“This is a very innovative technology that required detailed analyses of connection and system details, it also required a very attentive contractor and site supervisor who needed to jump through a lot of hoops in order to get this project done. Valuable lessons were learned and carried over to each of the three towers.” – Randy Smith, Engineering Manager, Building Science

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The striking new Mill Woods Library, Seniors and Multicultural Facility is a two-storey, dual functioning facility that consists of over 50,000 square feet of total floor area. This community space is pursuing LEED® Gold certification and energy simulation models indicate an energy savings of 41 per cent when compared to the Model National Energy Code for Buildings in Canada, 1997. Williams Engineering Canada provided mechanical and electrical consulting engineering services to this project.

The facility, operated by the City of Edmonton, contains a 25,000 square foot library located on the main floor, which features quiet rooms, public computer stations, several unique spaces, and staff administration and support areas. The Seniors and Multicultural Centre on the second floor includes a large multipurpose program spaces, meeting rooms, a full commercial and catering kitchen, a dining area, a games room, and administrative space. Together, the two functional programs have been unified into a single community hub.

Despite the diverse needs of the space, the facilities use a single central plant that includes high-efficiency condensing boilers, modular chillers, variable speed pumps, and an energy recovery ventilation unit. Solar energy is also harvested at a rooftop hydronic solar collector and used to preheat the domestic hot water supply for the building.

“A dual core air-to-air heat recovery ventilator was installed to provide fresh air in the building. On the coldest day, a design day, used for heating design calculations, the ventilator unit recovers enough outgoing exhaust airflow to provide 86% of the heading load required for the incoming fresh air. Only the remaining 14% requires heat provided by a natural gas boiler plant. But most days of the year, which are mild, the unit can heat the fresh air entirely from recovered waste energy.” – Chad Musselwhite, Team Lead – Mechanical

The Edmonton Public Library wanted open and flexible spaces that could adapt to potential space functions from one day to the next. The access floor system allowed the team to meet several project goals in terms of flexibility, indoor environmental quality, and ease of maintenance and design aesthetics while implementing flexible and cost-effective mechanical and electrical systems. The access floor is used to deliver ventilation, heating and cooling to the library occupants and as a pathway for plumbing, power, data and telecom services.

The dramatic ceiling of the library space is sloped and folded along angular, diverging lines, which are also punctuated by the impressively integrated lighting design. This collaboration of unique ceiling character, natural light, and intimately integrated lighting design carries on beautifully throughout the facility. The lighting systems are also energy-efficient and use a combination of LED and fluorescent fixtures, which operate from a central lighting controller.

“Tight coordination of mechanical and electrical systems within unique and aesthetically expressive architecture is always a challenge. We worked carefully with our architectural counterparts to really understand and appreciate what they were trying to achieve so that our system designs could support this vision. The use of building information modeling software also allowed us to better understand some of the more complex geometries and show where and how the building systems could integrate within them as the design progressed.” – Chad Musselwhite, Team Lead – Mechanical

A combination of operable windows and louvers on both levels of the facility allow an element of natural ventilation and connection with the outdoors to be achieved when outdoor conditions support it. The mechanical systems in the building, are operated by a fully digital Building Management System (BMS) using the non-proprietary BACnet protocol.

“The team relationships that developed during the Jasper Place Library project helped strengthen the design collaboration and the team took the additional step of employing building information modeling software – Autodesk Revit – to support that collaboration.” – Chad Musselwhite, Team Lead – Mechanical

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The Meadows Community Recreation Centre and Library is a 20,900-square-metre facility which includes an aquatic complex, twin-sheet ice arena, a gymnasium, a two-level fitness area with an indoor track, community multipurpose rooms, and a 1400-square-metre space for the Edmonton Public Library. Williams Engineering Canada (WEC) provided mechanical, electrical and civil consulting engineering services to this $91 million facility. The building has achieved LEED® Silver certification as mandated by the City of Edmonton.

The energy-efficient mechanical system is designed to provide a high level of comfort and indoor air quality. The library area is equipped with a raised floor system with displacement ventilation, and the demand-controlled ventilation uses carbon dioxide sensors located in the space. The ice storage system from the ice rink refrigeration is used to satisfy building cooling requirements. Condensing boilers combined with cascading heating water are designed to maximize boiler efficiency and minimize pump flow.

WEC designed all the power and distribution for the recreation centre and library including the aquatic centre and ice arena process equipment. Lighting fixtures and a digital lighting control system were designed to meet LEED® Silver criteria. The exterior grounds and parking lot feature dark sky compliant lights and specialty accent lighting for outdoor use areas such as a culture court, outdoor skating, and basketball. An integrated communications backbone was designed for the latest and future technology involving fibre optic and wireless access. Life safety systems include a fire alarm, emergency lighting, and a backup UPS system. The security infrastructure is designed to allow for multi-zoned access and incorporated close circuit IP cameras.

WEC was proud to work on the Meadows Community Recreation Centre and Library and assist in the facility achieving LEED® Silver Certification!

Williams Engineering Canada (WEC) provided the mechanical and electrical design team for various Browns Socialhouse franchises throughout Western Canada. The Socialhouse’s are a cross between upscale and casual dining with a pub-style social flare and are strategically placed in upcoming communities that have a smaller footprint, thus providing a warmer and friendlier atmosphere for neighbourhood dining. WEC has been involved in the design of 12 new Browns Socialhouse locations in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

“Approaching the Brown’s Socialhouse projects involved creating a standardized design that could be replicated in multiple locations, while also ensuring a consistent look and experience for customers. By building on a uniform design, our team greatly minimized the redevelopment of specific design details and challenges, which in turn meant a quicker delivery time for the franchise owners.” – Stan Poznekoff, Senior Project Manager, Abbotsford.

Every restaurant is slightly different, creating a unique dining experience that makes guests feel comfortable and relaxed just like at home—which inspired the name Socialhouse. To help find savings, Browns Restaurant Group prefers to choose an existing locations for new franchises. Our engineers need to be cognizant of the design challenges this can pose, for example, using existing equipment and laying out ducting in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and functional.

“Designing around multiple existing buildings in several different locations posed some challenges to our design team. For our team to get around the various site challenges we ran into, we consistently went back to our standard design to find where modifications could be made to keep in line with the unique look and feel of the restaurant. Keeping to the restaurants unique branding was a goal we wanted to maintain from location to location—regardless of any site challenges—and something we ultimately achieved.” – Stan Poznekoff, Senior Project Manager, Abbotsford.

We have worked closely with Browns, architects, and trade professionals to develop an equipment selection standard to help keep costs down and to facilitate budget, construction, and deadline restraints.

“Our team quickly became attune to solving reoccurring site and construction issues that may have impacted the standard design as they went from project to project. This allowed our team to iterate and collaborate on several aspect s of the design moving forward that in the end saved on construction time and cost for the franchise and its owners.” – Stan Poznekoff, Senior Project Manager, Abbotsford.

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Located on the east edge of downtown Calgary, the Atlantic Avenue Art Block is a four-storey retail, office, and art gallery building with underground and surface parking. The new facility boasts a sleek, modern design with hints of inspiration from the community’s historical setting. The building has achieved LEED® Silver certification.

The structure was built with cast-in-place concrete with slab-band construction to accommodate long span, high loading, and offset column alignment requirements. The top floor construction uses structural steel to showcase unique architectural features including a waved roof. A high water table and challenging soil conditions required innovative structural foundation solutions to satisfy geotechnical requirements as well as to maintain constructability.

Williams Engineering Canada (WEC) provided structural, building envelope, roofing services for this project, as well as specialty structural engineering services for a four-storey central atrium stair sculpture. The atrium functions as the circulation stair for the building and provides direct access from the gallery’s main entrance on the fourth floor. Inspired by an artist, this feature was created using stainless steel and glass materials sourced from various locations around the world. Both the fabrication and the construction of the stair sculpture was facilitated using a three dimensional model and shop drawings.

“The overall approach for the structural design of the project was to select a structural system that could accommodate all of the intended uses of the building – two levels of underground parking, retail on the main floor, offices on the upper floors combined with an extensive mechanical space required to provide “museum-standard” environmental controls for the art gallery on top of the building. Each use requires a different column spacing, with the art gallery requiring a clear-span, open area for exhibits. A concrete, slab-band system was selected in order to facilitate the column spacing combined with vibration isolation requirements. In addition, the roof “wave” feature required unique roof detailing to facilitate a curved metal deck profile, and rainwater leaders were embedded in a concrete column in order to provide a clean, architectural appearance in the gallery viewing lantern.” – Jim Gilliland, Regional Director, Southern Alberta

The design for the art gallery space required specific building envelope expertise to accommodate the building’s high humidity levels and the large window sections. The art gallery features a raised mezzanine and a floating ‘birds nest’ conference room, and a three dimensional model of the conference room was also created to facilitate the modification and installation of the steel ribboned nest structure.

“The greatest structural challenge for this project was incorporating the art elements into the structure of the building. With a museum-quality art gallery at the top of the building, several feature art elements were added to the building which required modelling in order to facilitate custom fabrication. The four-storey, stainless steel atrium art sculpture was integrated into the stair structure using BIM, which was then exported to manufacturing facilities in Germany and the United States for fabrication. Similarly, the spherical conference room in the art gallery was also modeled using BIM for fabrication purposes. Installation of the feature art was coordinated by the construction manager with the international suppliers and was completed with zero modifications post-fabrication modifications.” – Jim Gilliland, Regional Director, Southern Alberta

Our building science team provided quality assurance observations for the waterproofing beginning below grade in the parkade. During construction we monitored the entire building envelope at grade level to ensure continuity of the air vapour barrier in the walls and the door and window connections. Quality assurance observations were also provided during construction for the entire installation of the roof. WEC worked closely with the architect, Abugov Kaspar, to ensure the unique wave roof had proper stormwater drainage to prevent standing water.

“The success of this project was determined based on decisions made during the early stages of the project. Selection of the most appropriate structural system facilitated easy, detailed adjustments required later in the design process. The use of BIM enabled exact details to be finalized and dimensions to match site conditions ensuring minimal construction re-work and delays.” – Jim Gilliland, Regional Director, Southern Alberta

The Atlantic Art Avenue Block will be a refined and elegant addition to Calgary’s Inglewood community.

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