PARC Retirement Living Family Meetup Centres

Award Criteria

Architectural Excellence

These temporary Family Meetup Centre buildings look like our regular Bulldog office trailers from the outside; however, the interior design looks and feels like a customized, comfortable, virus-proof safe visitation space. Our teams retrofitted five of our standard 8’ x 20’ Bulldog Offices – typically used as secure, theft-proof site offices – for use across British Columbia, with a permanent dividing wall with a tempered glass window and air filters to prevent virus spreading through the units. The units also feature full-unit ventilation to maintain healthy airflow and separate entrances for PARC Retirement Living residents and their guests. The Bulldogs were chosen for a few reasons: their compact size allowed them to be placed in space-constrained parking lots; their ground-level installation allowed a one to be placed under covered parking areas; the ground-level access made it ideal for ease of accessibility; and Britco was able to supply a solution in a very quick turnaround.

Technical Innovation & Sustainability

To lessen the risk of spreading COVID-19 between PARC residents and their guests, several precautions had to be implemented. Proper air filtration was required, both within the units and to and from the outdoors, and a barrier was required between residents and guests to establish physical distancing. Our teams installed removable walls with tempered glass windows so residents and guests could meet face to face and four vent grills with HEPA filters to keep the air clean and to allow the visitors and residents to hear each other’s voices. An HVAC unit was installed on the residents’ side to ensure the air within the unit remained pure while maintaining the desired temperature. Another important design element was ensuring the unit was accessible to PARC residents who relied on walkers or wheelchairs to get around. The units were placed directly on the ground and were outfitted with low-slope ramps on the resident side for ease of accessibility, and low steps on the visitor side.

Cost Effectiveness

The Meetup Centres were designed using our existing fleet of Bulldog Offices, requiring no new construction and significantly decreased project costs. Since the trailers were placed on PARC Retirement Living’s property, property did not have to be rented, which provided significant budget savings. The units are being rented for a pre-determined term, subject to change as the pandemic continues or lessens.