The Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project included the addition of the iconic West building, which opened in April 2009. The prestigious project required 1,300,000 pounds of L/V, M/V, and H/V ductwork and kitchen exhaust. Upon receiving the contract for the VCCEP, Viaduct built and moved into a new manufacturing plant, updated existing machinery, and acquired new machinery to handle the quantities and sizes of ductwork the project required. The 102,600-square-metre project was later awarded LEED® Platinum certification for new construction by the Canada Green Building Council.
VCCEP at a Glance: Approximately 1.2 million square-feet which houses a 235,000 square-foot exhibition hall, 56,000 square-foot ballroom, 83,000 square-feet of meeting space and a 443 vehicle parkade.
Mechanical Systems: The buildings’ mechanical systems are comprised of: central chilled and heating water plant; glycol condenser system; in-slab radiant heating/ cooling; constant and variable air volume systems; data/ electrical room cooling systems; steam distribution for kitchens/ DHW/ heating; waste water treatment and desalination plants that produce non-potable water, which is distributed to water closets, urinals and roof-top irrigation.
Central Plant: The hub for core cooling and heating systems consisting of 2,875 ton chiller plant – two 1050 ton heat recovery chillers each capable of producing 2,220 kW heat at 130°F and one 750 ton variable speed cooling only chiller heat rejection and extraction for chiller plant is achieved by drawing water from Coal Harbour via four 1,950 gpm vertical turbine pumps through three plate heat exchangers using specialty stainless plates (15 year life expectancy). Filtering of the sea water is critical to maintain operating efficiency of the plate exchangers; this is done through two automatic flushing filters constructed from titanium Providing heat back-up and to compliment chillers, steam-water heat exchangers are used; capacity 35,000 PPH steam, 30,000,000 BTU/hr heat
Exhibition Hall: 16 air handing units totaling 340,000 cfm serve the 235,000 square-foot ex-hall. Each unit has cooling and heating coils and return/ outdoor air mixing plenums. Half of the units are also used for smoke evacuation. Air is distributed from these units to 160 diffusers through 11,745 feet of 24 inch spiral duct.
3D Modeling: PCL and VCCEP offered a building 3D model to understand the complexity of the structure. Both Fred Welsh Ltd. and Viaduct Sheet Metal used this model to further integrate/ coordinate mechanical piping and ductwork systems through our in-house 3D CAD. This allowed for fully coordinated drawings to be produced months prior to commencing with construction. From CAD models, we were able to provide detailed layout Central Plant and spool drawings which had significant impact on being able to meet and/ or exceed schedule durations. In addition, the 3D models were invaluable to the consulting team as we were able to incorporate gravity, operating and seismic loads of our systems; this allowed the structural consultant and contractor to verify that structural members could sustain mechanical loads.