The Vancouver Convention Centre

More Info

LEEDing the Road to Gold

Canadian Journal of Green Building & Design
By Kelly Gray, Canadian Journal of Green Building & Design

In a city renowned for iconic architecture, the newly expanded Vancouver Convention Centre is in a distinguished class of few members. Beautiful by design, the structure graces the edge of Vancouver's Burrard Inlet with views across the water to the Coastal Mountains and the North Shore. Appearance is prow-like, with the building extending over the shoreline with exterior treatments of vast glass curtain walls, behind which glows interior expanses of BC wood along the lengths of exposed hallway.

Built by PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. and designed by the architectural partnership of Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership, DA Architects + Planners and LMN Architects, the structural cost in excess of $625 million and took the better part of four years to complete. Inside the 1.1 million ft2 of low-rise building, there is now a 220,500-ft2 exhibition hall, a space that was needed to keep Vancouver competitive in the marketplace.

There is also a wealth of green aspects built into the Convention Centre, with the result that the building/project is a strong candidate for LEED Platinum rating. At the front of the charge to sustainability has to be the facility's new six-acre green roof. Designed by PWL Partnership, a Vancouver-based landscape architectural firm with global experience, the roof is the largest of its kind in Canada and is a living entity with more than 400,000 indigenous plants. As well, the roof lends itself to creating a more carbon neutral building, helps control water runoff and makes a positive statement about the city's commitment to sustainable urban development.

BC Hydro was also instrumental in assisting the planners and designers with its overall sustainability. For example, the utility's High Performance Building Program has enabled the Vancouver Convention Centre to save in excess of 2.2 million kWh of energy over a year versus a more conventional building design. BC Hydro's staff advised on things such as variable speed drives on pumps, high efficiency lighting and premium transformers, demand control ventilation and daylight sensors. The upshot is a saving that is similar to taking 220 homes off-line for a year.

The newly expanded Vancouver Convention Centre also showcases BC's forest sector with immense wall panels that travel down hallways along the west and east sides. The panels are constructed of 860,000 individual end-grain wood blocks arranged in a seemingly random pattern to replicate stacks of lumber. Altogether, there are 3,000 panels which have been interlocked to create a seamless interior expanse of wood.

In addition, designers created a 1,300-foot marine habitat apron to provide some protection to delicate aquatic life near the site. It has been suggested that the apron has actually assisted in helping bring back species that have not been seen in the area for decades. Also, the facility offers a water conservation and reuse system that features black water treatment and desalinization that is expected to cut potable water use by as much as 70 percent. The newly expanded facility will also use a heat pump system to utilize the constant temperature of seawater, will have natural ventilation, controlled daylighting and will be cooled using radiant flooring.

A building of this magnitude required a highly competent builder to get the job done. Certainly there were challenges. Consider that the design called for the construction to take place largely over open water in the harbour. Indeed, two-thirds of the structure extends over ocean and required 900 piles to anchor it to terra firma. PCL reports that over the many years Vancouver has been a city, various developers had dumped construction waste into the harbour. The challenge for PCL was to get the piles through the mess on the ocean floor and create a solid foundation for the building. To get this done, the company relied on the experience of its project director, Robert Smith, a new-retired construction maven who was able to bring his years and considerable talents to the job.

PCL also had to plan for the aforementioned green roof, the likes of which no one in Canada, and few in the world, have seen. At six acres, the roof presented a host of unique challenges that have been met, with the result that the roof is now onto its second growth of grasses and other plants. The roof required 18,000 tonnes of steel, with some trusses weighing in at one tonne each.

To be sure, what goes around comes around. The original Vancouver Convention Centre was built to accommodate the needs of EXPO '86. This new addition will open many opportunities for the facility and help it with its duties during the province's current celebration as the International Broadcast Centre for the 2010 Olympics.

The fact that it is an astounding architectural work and a sustainable structure of world importance is just icing on a very lovely cake. Parties such as constructors PCL are justly proud of their achievement in creating a structure that is at once highly functional as well beautiful in form.