EllisDon has won three London District Construction Association’s (LDCA) Project Excellence Awards and a Builders Achievement Award at this year’s LDCA Project Excellence Awards banquet.

Fanshawe College School of IT, Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts project received the Restoration & Conversion Award.

The building, in its existing scale and condition, could not meet Fanshawe College’s needs as the new home of their School of Information Technology, Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts. As a result, most of the building was demolished but a significant aspect of the project involved retaining/restoring the existing Dundas Street façade, shared walls with the neighboring properties and salvaging existing materials for re-use within the new building.

The existing limestone facade was conserved and incorporated into the new building. Architecturally, many spaces are separated with floor to ceiling glass walls bringing natural light to almost all rooms through the north and south curtainwalls and through a skylight in the middle of the building above the feature stair. Materials salvaged from the old building, such as reclaimed yellow brick, wood floor joists and tin ceilings are complimented by natural finishes like wood veneer wall & ceiling panels and polished concrete floors. Much like the original building, the main corridor on the level one connects Dundas Street and Carling Street and during hours of operations, this corridor will be open to the public.

The Sifton West 5 Hēlio (Building 4) project received the Multi Unit Residential Building Award.

Hēlio is a ten-storey rental apartment building standing in the heart of West 5 that has 114 suites, ground floor retail, as well as exercise facilities, a movie room and community rooms. With a stunning curved design, magnificent views and luxury amenity spaces, Hēlio was designed with comfort and sustainability in mind.

Hēlio is adorned with solar panels and constructed to be 77% more efficient than similar residential buildings, making it the most energy efficient, high performance apartment building in Canada. This efficient design will result in achieving a 75% net-zero target and a carbon reduction of 80% of a code-built building. Hēlio also had the most solar panels on a parking structure in Canada at the time it was constructed.

The ten-storey structure was designed with cast-in-place concrete stair and elevator cores with the floors constructed with Piekko system of columns and beams with precast hollow core slabs. The four-level parking garage is nestled beside the tower providing 318 parking spots. The parking garage is constructed of cast-in-place concrete and covered with solar panels on a structural steel frame.

The Stratford Festival Tom Patterson Theatre was the recipient of the Commercial Award.

Photo Credit: Ann BaggleyThis 77,000 square-foot facility runs along the banks of the Avon River and was designed by renowned Toronto-based Hariri Pontarini Architects. With inspiration taken from its riverside setting, the facility’s exterior features undulating glass walls, hung with thin bronze mullions.

At the heart of the building, clad in softly lime-washed brick, the theatre is designed to honour all that is cherished about the beloved Tom Patterson; the unique elongated thrust stage, the pronounced stepping of the tiers that provide clear site lines, and the unparalleled intimacy. The curved ceiling embraces the patrons below and is expressed as a basketed surface of textured dark wooden planks. Between each plank, acoustic treatment and concealed air slots provide all the technical rigour to achieve a sophisticated theatre environment. Beneath the vaulted ceiling, a network of suspended technical catwalks replete with elegant wooden acoustic baffles will form a hanging ‘chandelier’ that provides flexibility and access to lighting and rigging positions for all performances.

Reinforcing the Festival’s commitment to ecological stewardship, the building and system design respond to the unique requirements of the site and theatre to provide an efficient building that is highly-responsive and targeting LEED® Gold.

As a leading voice in the construction sector, the LDCA brings general & trade contractors, manufacturers/suppliers of construction material & equipment, along with firms associated with the construction industry together as one body. The primary role of the association is to provide Leadership through; Advocacy, Education, Innovation and Support.

Learn more about the LDCA HERE.