Awards of Distiction - Entry Detail

Bruce Power Protected Area Office Complex

(Click an image below to see enlargement)

Main Category:

Modular Building Design

Company:

NRB, Inc.

Affiliate:

Location:

Tiverton, Ontario

Building Use:

Offices, Cafeteria, Locker Rooms

Gross Size of Project:

75000 Square Feet

Days to complete:

378

Award Criteria

Architectural Excellence
This two storey Admin building is the central area from which the Bruce Nuclear restart program will be operated over the next two decades. The PAOC (Protected Area Office Complex) provides a large open area with efficient work cubicles laid out to accommodate 1200 new staff members on the upper level, and has the supporting locker rooms, shower rooms, meeting spaces, electrical and mechanical rooms and a lunchroom/cafeteria below. The interior is finished with drywall painted, carpet tiles and a combination of ceramic and VCT flooring. The exterior features a tower entrance way and is finished in a combination of architectural aluminum panels and prefinished corrugated steel cladding to provide a high durability/low maintenance exterior. The PAOC is located next to the powerhouse building and is constructed using a design conducive to long term structural integrity and resilience. Many of the systems including fire alarm/suppression, meet stringent nuclear plant design standards.
Technical Innovation & Sustainability
The building is fabricated with steel and pre-poured concrete floors, of a non-combustible and fire rated design. Due to the high level of design sophistication required for this building, it was constructed using NRB’s unique “build together” process. Structural seismic design standards required a significant amount of bracing laterally and between the floors. The building was placed in the protected area of the nuclear plant facility, and partially over a series of underground piping that could not be disturbed by a foundation system. To accommodate this condition, the building was designed with an upper floor bridge to span the affected grade area below and this area then became a drive-through space with automatic overhead doors installed at each end to prevent a wind tunnel effect.
Cost Effectiveness
The Bruce Power PAOC facility adopted a design-build project delivery method as a means of accelerating and integrating the design and construction process, while minimizing the on-site time and activity. Building on a nuclear power plant site with its high-level security measures and extensive safety protocols is a very intensive and lengthy process, and so the plan of creating the new complex off site in a controlled environment was the ideal solution, saving the company both time and money.