University of Ottawa - Vanier Hall

Owner: University of Ottawa

Project Location: Ottawa, ON

Construction Completion: August 2013

Building Type: Institutional/University

Project Type: New Construction & Renovation

Construction Value: New: $21.5M (M&E); Renovation: $5.5M (M&E)

Vanier Hall renovation six-story 15,000 m2 LEED-CI Silver and new Faculty of Social Science Tower, 26,000 m2, a sixteen-story tower built to LEED NC Gold Certification standards.  Interconnection of the new Faculty of Social Science Tower with existing Vanier Hall.  Renovations of the existing faculty building included an existing full renovated and expanded animal care area, with acclimatization, holding, monitoring, and specialized rooms, and two-stories of full research wet labs.  The Atrium has a six-story living wall integrated with an HVAC return system for the revitalization of return air via a plant living wall.

The challenge with this project was the integration of existing space allocation, phasing of construction, and renovation of existing with the construction of a new tower addition.

The new Tower utilized leading-edge energy-efficient systems including dedicated outdoor air energy recovery with exhaust, low-temperature fan coils using waste heat from data center cooling via heat pump chiller with central plant energy for back-up and source energy exchange.

Sustainable features included re-use of the existing building, energy recovery on the ventilation system for animal areas, modification of ventilation/exhaust systems for existing animal areas to accommodate energy recovery.  Variable volume exhaust/supply system and full DDC control system to reduce ventilation when space is not being used.  The new tower addition utilizes heat recovery chillers, low-temperature heating, energy recovery exhaust/make-up air system with variable airflow, variable speed pumps, low flow plumbing fixtures, and lighting control.