CBE Education Centre
Client
BIM CBE Inc. c/o Bentall Investment Management LP
Region
Calgary, AB
Area Office
Calgary
Year Completed
2010
Sector
Buildings
Sub-Sector
Education (Institutional)
The Story
The CBE Education Centre included construction a 145,000 square feet, ten-storey office tower for the Calgary Board of Education. The Education Centre is linked by a pedestrian bridge to an adjacent two story conference centre that is a multi-purpose building. In addition to the office tower, there are three levels of underground parking to accommodate 360 cars, and restaurant and retail shops on the main floor along 8th Street S.W. A unique challenge that EllisDon faced is that the Calgary Board of Education required this education complex to incorporate the 100-year-old sandstone wood school, currently sitting on the site into the design, which needed to be done without disturbing the existing school. EllisDon completed the renovations to the exterior of the existing sandstone school and upgrades to the new mechanical and electrical systems. Now complete, the Safran Centre provides office space for the school board trustees. This new office building is connected to the historical school.
Achievement
LEED Gold Certification
Scandatex construction material was used as a wall fabric as a cost saving method to achieve a good wall finish on all existing plaster walls in the Safran School. The Scandatex was used instead of the high costs of laminating or skim coating all of the existing walls. A hydraulic elevator was added into the old school. Another challenge of this project was that the building spans across the property line with two different owners and funding sources. Therefore the project team had to ensure that the proper costs were billed to the correct owner. The design functionality and appearance makes this building unique, being a new office building that is connected to a historical building in Calgary. Project was completed under budget and on time.