West Memorial Building Renovation | U/C

[rocketphish]

Moriyama & Teshima, Kasian Architecture win $14.2M West Memorial Building contract

By: OBJ staff
Published: Feb 26, 2018 8:45am EST



A pair of architectural firms have won a multimillion-dollar federal contract to create the designs needed to upgrade a long-vacant federal building on Wellington Street.

A joint venture consisting of teams from Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd. will draft plans to make the West Memorial Building “an accessible and modern workplace,” the federal government said in a statement.

A request for proposals for construction management services is expected to be published this summer.

The project will involve a “major rehabilitation” of the exterior walls and windows as well as the mechanical and electrical systems. The IT and security systems need modernizing, and the building needs seismic upgrades to meet current building code requirements.

The West Memorial Building was constructed from 1954-58 and forms Canada's primary Second World War memorial along with the East Memorial Building and the connecting Commemorative Memorial Archway.

The seven-storey structure, which also has two basement levels, contains some 215,000 square feet of usable space, according to government records. It’s sat empty since 2008 because it’s in poor condition and presents health and safety issues.

The plan is to use the West Memorial Building to temporarily house the Supreme Court of Canada from 2023 to 2028 as the home of the country’s top court undergoes rehabilitation.

After that, the West Memorial Building will be converted into federal government office space.

The federal government says the combined cost of rehabilitating the Supreme Court and West Memorial Building will be in excess of $1 billion.

http://www.obj.ca/index.php/article/...lding-contract

[MountainView]

I might be alone in this sediment but this and its twin are one of my favourite buildings in Ottawa.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by MountainView

I might be alone in this sediment but this and its twin are one of my favourite buildings in Ottawa.

They are gorgeous. Ottawa has some amazing architecture along Confederation (courthouse, west memorial, Canada Post on Sparks, James Flaherty, NAC). Too bad the rest of our CBD doesn't live up to the same design standards....

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey

They are gorgeous. Ottawa has some amazing architecture along Confederation (courthouse, west memorial, Canada Post on Sparks, James Flaherty, NAC). Too bad the rest of our CBD doesn't live up to the same design standards....

Bring back the Holt Plan!!!!!

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Bring back the Holt Plan!!!!!

This city would be so much better if they had implemented Holt instead of Greber.

[J.OT13]

We'd have subways instead of parkways.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

We'd have subways instead of parkways.

And a downtown railway station, probably commuter rail, an extensive surface LRT network, and federal offices concentrated near the city centre.

[Uhuniau]

We could still have those things if we wanted, but apparently we don't wanted.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

We could still have those things if we wanted, but apparently we don't wanted.

At an enormous cost. It was easier to build nice things 100 years ago (not necessarily for all the right reasons).

[Abe Simpson]

Originally Posted by MountainView

I might be alone in this sediment but this and its twin are one of my favourite buildings in Ottawa.

You are definitely not alone. Both are gorgeous buildings and I'm very happy to see the Federal Government fixing this building up to use again. It was so heartbreaking to walk by it for years and see it empty.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

At an enormous cost. It was easier to build nice things 100 years ago (not necessarily for all the right reasons).

And instead, we get crappy things that cost just as much, if not more, namely god-awful suburban sprawl and a long series of ticking time-bombs of "legacy" costs that is slowly starting to detonate.

[rocketphish]

NCC board members warn against diminishing memorial during Supreme Court move

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: January 24, 2019



A memorial to the Second World War at Wellington and Lyon streets must be respected as the federal government outfits a building for the temporary relocation of the Supreme Court, National Capital Commission staff heard Thursday.

The NCC board signed off on the design concept for the West Memorial Building at 334 Wellington St., which will contain the Supreme Court and Federal Court space between 2023 and 2028 while the Supreme Court building is under rehabilitation.

Public Services and Procurement Canada lists the Supreme Court rehabilitation and West Memorial Building renovation as a project worth more than $1 billion. When the court operations move back to the Supreme Court building, the West Memorial Building will be used for federal government offices.



The Memorial Buildings were built to honour those who served in the war. The east building finished construction in 1956 and the west building was completed in 1962. The Memorial Arch connects the buildings over Lyon Street. A granite sculpture, The Canadian Phalanx, is on the grassy median below the arch.

Some members of the NCC board expressed concern about the architects’ plan to build a security pavilion outside the West Memorial Building.

Larry Beasley said the NCC shouldn’t accept a design that would diminish the memorial function of the buildings. He said it’s also not acceptable to plunk down a similar pavilion along the East Building to make sure the buildings remain symmetrical, as has been suggested.

“The integrity of this building to me is as important as the security of this building,” Beasley said.

There’s also concern about what the Supreme Court building will look like during construction.

Mayor Jim Watson fears the Supreme Court building will be masked in construction material, creating a “row of tarps” between that building and the Parliament Buildings’ Centre Block, which is also the subject of a major rehabilitation project.

The NCC board is scheduled to sign off on design approvals twice more in 2019 before construction on the West Memorial Building starts in October.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...eme-court-move

[rocketphish]

EllisDon to begin construction on $183M West Memorial Building reno next month

By: Craig Lord, OBJ
Published: Jul 8, 2019 2:53pm EDT



A major facelift of a long-vacant federal government building is set to begin next month as contractors ready a temporary home for the Supreme Court of Canada.

Public Services and Procurement Canada tapped EllisDon in 2018 to carry out renovations to Ottawa’s West Memorial Building, located at 334 Wellington St., between Bay and Lyon streets. The federal government workplace, constructed in the mid-1950s as part of tributes to Canada’s Second World War veterans, has sat in disrepair since 2008.

Rehabilitation work will include maintenance on the historic building’s walls, floors and heritage elements, as well as its mechanical and IT systems.

PSPC told OBJ in an email this past week that work on the West Memorial Building is slated to begin in August. When construction is complete, the roughly 215,000 square feet of usable space in the historic structure will act as a temporary home to the Supreme Court of Canada during renovations to the judiciary’s own building at 301 Wellington St.

When work is finished on the Supreme Court of Canada Building, space in the West Memorial Building could be used to consolidate other federal government operations and reduce the need for office leases elsewhere in the city, according to a PSPC website.

EllisDon’s initial contract for pre-construction work, awarded last October, was pegged at $660,000 with later amendments tacking on an additional $495,000. PSPC told OBJ that the contractor’s total bid came in at a value of $183.3 million.

The full budget for the West Memorial Building’s rehabilitation is being looped in with the Supreme Court’s renovations, which PSPC says will total more than $1 billion. Design work on the Supreme Court project is expected to begin next year with a construction management contract planned to go up for tender in 2023. Work should be complete on these renovations by 2028.

https://obj.ca/article/ellisdon-begi...eno-next-month

[J.OT13]

Update from the top of the Delta.

[kwoldtimer]

When will the project be completed?

[bartlebooth]

Don't see renders posted so figured I'd add a few. You can check all of them out here.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

When will the project be completed?

Latest news says 2025 or 2026.

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-serv...ilitation.html

[Uhuniau]

I'm a little meh'd out at the actual court chamber. And I'd kill to see what the Justice's offices and back rooms look like.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

I'm a little meh'd out at the actual court chamber. And I'd kill to see what the Justice's offices and back rooms look like.

Yeah, pretty basic, though the actual chamber is pretty sparse as well.

I had thought that they would come to their senses and make this building convertible to be used by the Federal Court once the Supreme Court is done with it, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It wouldn't be perfect, as the Federal Court has quite a lot of courtrooms, but surely doable.

[Davis137]

I love that they are incorporating some MCM design elements in those renderings...the wood panels mixed with some glass and other items is certainly an improvement over other options.