“The furniture is where we were able to introduce the bold colour.”
CONTENTS
08 MARANT Construction Ltd.
A new office for Stantec took creativity and imagination. The results show both.
12 Watson MacEwen Teramura Architects Natural elements and bold colour make this government office a great place to work.
16 Marks & Clerk Canada
An office fitup in the World Exchange Plaza transformed the workspace for the Ottawa arm of this law firm.
20 Lifespan MD Inc.
An old veterinary clinic is transformed into a state of the art medical clinic.
Best Offices Ottawa is a celebration of esthetically beautiful, functional and healthy workspaces across the National Capital Region. This year’s edition features top projects and stories from the magazine’s various supporters, including:
MARANT Construction
Ltd., Watson MacEwen
Teramura Architects (WMTA), Marks & Clerk Canada and LifespanMD Inc.
WELCOME
As workers across the capital slowly return to the office, government, corporations and nonprofits alike are enticing them back by creating beautiful workplaces especially suited to hybrid work models. Hot-desking, creative spaces for group huddles and spacious, relaxing rooms in which to grab a bite to eat or a coffee are all part of the offices of today.
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PUBLISHER
Michael Curran, 613-696-9491 publisher@obj.ca
CONTENT CREATION
Jenn Campbell
VICE-PRESIDENT SALES AND MARKETING
Victoria Stewart, 613-696-9484 victoria@obj.ca
ADVERTISING SALES
General inquiries, 613-696-9494 sales@obj.ca
Wendy Baily, 613-696-9483 wbaily@obj.ca
SALES SUPPORT
Ihsan Yousif, 613-696-9536 issy@obj.ca
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Tanya Connolly-Holmes, 613-696-9487 creative@greatriver.ca
FINANCE
Cheryl Schunk, 613-696-9490 cheryl@greatriver.ca
The sponsors of Best Offices Ottawa are all examples of companies that are working hard to create spaces where innovation and excellence thrive. Whether it’s the new medical clinic owned by Lifespan MD Inc. or the office fitup for a government agency that brings the outdoors inside with pops of colour and inspiration from nature, their new offices are warm, welcoming and versatile. In this issue, we also feature a look at an airy office in the World Exchange Plaza for the Ottawabased employees of Marks & Clerk, an international intellectual property law firm and a new office for Stantec, the global engineering firm. The latter was built by MARANT Construction, which has a longstanding relationship with Stantec.
In summing up this new office trend, Marks & Clerk said that its “state-of the art office on O’Connor Street is part of a long-standing commitment to invest in our people and strengthen our footprint in the national capital region, and to build deeper connections within Canada’s most vibrant business community.” The others on these pages would no doubt agree.
Michael Curran PUBLISHER
Best Offices Ottawa is published by
PRESIDENT Michael Curran
Communication key in creating an inviting space
AMARANT Construction Ltd. office fit-up project for Stantec, a multi-disciplinary design and engineering firm, had a few requirements: Keep the budget in check, re-use fixtures the company had in its possession and follow the design specifications of this large corporation that has set design standards.
Sustainability initiatives were a key priority to the client, and this did create challenges in effectively ensuring the reuse of glass office partitions and millwork.
“Stantec’s in-house team had prepared the design of the space with significant re-use considerations. One of the key components included existing demountable partitions,” says Heidi Pershick, MARANT’s project manager and the person at the helm of this project. “We were able to take those down, catalog and re-use them in the new space and conduct simple
INVITING AND OPEN LOBBY-CAFÉ AREA.
repairs where needed to enable the construction of multiple large workspace areas. Reusability and sustainability considerations were key to the project.”
The two companies had worked on projects together in the past across MARANT’s many regions.
MARANT Construction Limited offers strategic and integrated services in the commercial interior sector; including pre-construction consulting, general contracting, prelease advisory and ongoing facility care while prioritizing sustainability, equity and employee ownership in its operations. Its commitment to quality, collaboration and responsible business practices has set a high standard in Canadian corporate construction since the firm’s inception in 1999.
“With strong pre-existing relationships,” says Matthew DiCintio, regional director of operations for
MARANT, “Stantec knew we would stand behind our delivery and there was a level of confidence from the getgo. We assembled a great team, and it shows in the results.”
Pershick says that over the course of the fit-up, the offices at the corner of Baseline Road and Clyde Avenue, next to Walmart, remained open. This in situ delivery offers its own challenges of segregating areas for renovation and working alongside those that must remain available to staff and end-users. Thankfully, MARANT is well accustomed to navigating logistical concerns and project parameters, considering its expertise in construction management and complex project executions. The company is very involved in pre-construction planning, and sequencing strategies are well explored before the work begins on the site.
“Challenges were mitigated through
effective and clear communication with the existing staff regarding who required access to existing conference room spaces,” Pershick says. “Working to ensure Stantec staff could still work optimally while we continued to manage the workflow and the construction activities accordingly was paramount.”
Pershick says she’s proud of the efforts to re-use existing office materials on this project.
“Re-use of components offered them a new life and greatly reduced waste that would otherwise be diverted to landfill. The refresh to this office space was tailored to maximize changes in business functionality and flow,” she says.
The renovation meant the return to work for 200 Stantec staff members, some of whom were present over the course of the renovation while others worked offsite.
“We were trying to maximize on the use of what we had due to tight timelines and budget,” Pershick says. “Our goal was to turn out a functional space that was still inviting for staff.”
A LOVELY LOBBY-CAFÉ AREA
One of Pershick’s proudest spaces in the project is the lobby-café area and she ensured a significant portion of the project’s finances were focused in
this space because it’s located in a firstimpression place within the tenant’s suite.
“It’s a nice, inviting space,” she says. “It’s very open — it opens to a large second-floor staircase that goes up to the third floor, adjacent to reception for Stantec Ottawa’s headquarters. “It’s inviting for their staff and it gives you that open feel.”
That area was treated with specialty ceiling baffle systems to mitigate noise transfer from social gathering spaces to those areas where focused work occurs.
“Major changes to the renovation included re-use and addition to existing servery and millwork. Alterations were to suit new requirements of staff,” Pershick says. “Changes to floor finishes and upgraded light fixtures were also components of the renovation.”
Regarding the reutilization of existing office fronts — they were dispersed throughout the space to create places where staff can engage in small meetings. Making places for focused work and privacy considerations were essential.
COMMUNICATION WAS PARAMOUNT
Throughout the project, the designer was based in Denver, DiCintio points out, making careful and clear communication essential every step of the way.
“There was definitely an extra level of communication required,” he says. “Obviously, there was confidence in MARANT managing from afar with no direct oversight.”
Pershick says it had its challenges, but technology helped bridge the gap of having a designer based in Colorado, the main point-person for Stantec based in Boston and the construction project based in Ottawa.
“You have to really ensure communication is clear,” she says. “It’s important to have a lot of calls, we sent a lot of photos and we would often do FaceTime to show the client what we were doing in a certain space.”
“Ensuring communication was clear is critical,” she says. “It was important to make outreach focused and clear, our team utilized calls and sharable 360-degree imagery of the renovations to navigate unforeseen site conditions and collaborate on solutions. There were times when a simple FaceTime call was helpful to convey and strategize steps forward.”
In addition to frequent communication with the client, MARANT had to work alongside SmartREITCentre, the owner of the property.
“There was also a need for collaboration with the existing property
management company,” DiCintio says. “As there were retail tenants, the team needed to be cognizant to not impede business while allowing for material deliveries. It also had to adjust working hours to mitigate possible disruption to neighbouring tenants.”
Pershick says the biggest challenge was — as much as possible — not being disruptive for staff who remained on-site while the construction was going on.
PLACES FOR FOCUSED WORK AND PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS WERE ESSENTIAL.
“You’re always trying to navigate that,” she says. “It means working within an office and existing work environment, and making sure that we’re communicative, that we’re problem-solving and that we’re resolution-based.”
DiCintio says that’s one of the things the company is known for.
“That’s what we do — and what we do well. It’s how we bring this kind of project to fruition.”
BIOPHELIA IS INTRODUCED WITH MOSS THAT DOUBLES AS ART ON THE WALLS.
WMTA: Making a government office pop
STRONG NATURAL ELEMENTS COMBINED WITH BITS OF BOLD COLOUR MAKE THIS OFFICE FIT-UP FOR A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY ANYTHING BUT STAID.
When designer and architect
Emily Webster Mason first saw her client’s federal government agency space, she immediately identified an opportunity to bring some of the rare greenery that surrounded the first-floor office
building inside by way of furnishings and finishes.
Webster Mason is an associate at Watson MacEwen Teramura Architects (WMTA) and her government client — which she can’t disclose for security reasons — was looking for an office to be
designed based on the hybrid nature of work these days.
“It’s a calculation of how many types of workstations are needed based on the user and their workstyle using GCWorkplace standards,” Webster Mason says. “It’s a pretty open floor plate on the first level of a tower. It has lots of green space around it, and big windows. You can’t see in, but you can still see out. We tried to bring all of the greenery back in to the space, even though the owner of the building mandated that we had to use the grey carpet.”
The resulting design is sleek and modern, with lots of natural textures that recall the outdoor environment seen through the window.
“We tried to work with what we had. And so again, with nature, you’ll see a lot of the textures are very natural. We’ve got the rich textures with concrete panels; we’ve got woods. All of the glazing of the glass has a fritting that looks like a tree branch graphic. So that’s a pattern that we introduced to create a little privacy, but it also keeps that theme of nature.”
A wall in the boardroom addresses acoustics and esthetics with a rich felt finish. Biophelia is introduced with moss that doubles as art on the walls of the lunchroom and breakout areas.
“Everything’s very textural, very simple,” Webster Mason says.
She tried to keep the base colour palette to natural colours, enhancing the grey carpets with concrete walls and walls with decorative wood elements, but then she added pops of colour — mustard yellow, magenta, pale pink, army green throughout by way of screens to divide open spaces, as well as furnishings.
“The furniture is where we were able to introduce the bold colour,” she says. “The client was really open to my ideas on that. We did have to work on the ceilings to tamper sound travel throughout the space, but the look is pretty wide open, except for the closed meeting spaces and quiet little workspaces.”
There’s a wall of soft pink benches in the main building’s kitchenette; a deep blue one for team meetings, a lounge
space with a mustard yellow sectional couch, a group meeting space enclosed by a circular burgundy bench and a magenta table in the main kitchenette.
“When you pull all of that fun stuff back, it’s a very soft, muted and calm space,” she says. “We used some bold colours as accents. I never think colour is offensive, but some people are a bit shy with colour and were off-put by samples initially. So where we put strong elements, it was, for example, against a window or where they had space to breathe.”
When working with government clients, designers such as Webster Mason also have to work with the government’s procurement methods.
“So you want it to look a certain way, and then you have to work with the awarded vendors to customize and make it work with everything you’ve planned,” Webster Mason says. “We did that with three different vendors for this project.”
The building is certified LEED silver so WMTA had to work within the certification on everything they did. Since it’s a drop-in space, it’s also in
“WE USED SOME BOLD COLOURS AS ACCENTS AGAINST A WINDOW OR WHERE THEY HAD SPACE TO BREATHE.”
constant use, so everything had to be durable and there needed to be some flexibility in furnishings and spaces.
“So if someone needed a different style chair, there are options stored within the space that they can easily swap out and use,” Webster Mason says.
COVID CHALLENGES
The designer says there were lots of moving parts in the project, as it started in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When you consider that we were working with limitations of what’s going to be available or not knowing if something would ultimately be available, the project turned out to be quite successful,” she says. “I can walk into a space and I know what it will look like before I’ve even done it, but it’s always nice when you have so many hoops to jump through and you get to the other end and it’s what you imagined.”
She says there were plenty of challenges with suppliers, workforce, security and then there was the added uncertainty that COVID presented.
“There were certainly things along the way that made it exciting in ways you don’t always want it to be, but being able to get to the end and having the client be just as excited and happy with it as you are is gratifying,” she says.
In thinking back on this project, Webster Mason says her key message would be that “offices don’t have to be stuffy” — even government offices.
“You can still be professional, you can use simple base building materials, and you can still introduce fun in a way that’s really elegant and inspiring, so that people want to go to work and they’re excited to be there, that there’s a space for everybody,” she says. “That’s the most important thing — being excited about being in a space and feeling inspired when you’re there.”
Webster Mason says it’s gratifying to know that people who work on the other floors of the building are keen to work in this new space — and they often do.
“Flexibility and quality was key for the places people were sitting and the idea was to make sure it was a project that can grow with the client,” she says.
A modern space for in-person collaboration
MARKS & CLERK WAS KEEN TO MOTIVATE ITS OTTAWA EMPLOYEES TO COME BACK TO THE OFFICE AND COLLABORATE IN PERSON AND DECIDED A “FANCY AND MODERN NEW SPACE” MIGHT BE THE WAY TO DO IT. IT’S WORKING.
For Parallel 45 Design Group, the best testament to their recent project with Marks & Clerk is that the employees like their new office space so much, they’re returning to work voluntarily for more than the required two days a week.
“We’re most proud that we’re hearing people are liking it and are
coming back to the office. That was the goal — to make people really comfortable at the office,” says Robin Peixoto, a principal at Parallel 45 Design.
The project involved designing a whole new office space for Marks & Clerk, an international intellectual property law boutique with patent
and trademark agents, lawyers and paralegals and administrative staff among their employee audience. The company opened its first Canadian office in Ottawa more than 100 years ago and had most recently housed its local offices in an office on Kent Street in the capital city’s centre.
“We were moving out of a very traditional, old-school legal office space and it was the kind of design that didn’t age super well,” says James Baker, office managing partner at Marks & Clerk. “It was leased at a time when law firms had closed offices and staff sat in cubicles with limited natural light. We were also very paper heavy, we had a massive file room to accommodate this, and everyone came in five days a week, so dedicated desks and offices were a necessity. Today our teams work remotely two to four days a week and our office is paperless, with all work created and stored in the cloud. So when we designed the new space, we got rid of our file room, which had to be 1,500 square feet of space and we also reduced the number of offices and desks to
THE WORD MOST OFTEN USED TO DESCRIBE THE SPACE IS MODERN.
A TIMELESS, UP-TO-DATE OFFICE SPACE WHERE EVERYONE COULD COME AND WORK COLLABORATIVELY WITH EACH OTHER.
reflect the current needs of our business and practice.”
Marks & Clerk found a hidden gem on the third floor of World Exchange Plaza, a shiny new space with lots of large windows and natural light for everyone, and the tallest ceilings in the whole 20-storey complex. Conveniently located in downtown Ottawa, World Exchange Plaza offers Marks & Clerk’s employees access to exclusive tenant only amenity spaces, a recently redesigned food court and beautiful outdoor plaza.
Parallel 45’s work was designed to facilitate collaborative work for the Marks & Clerk team in a modern and welcoming environment with technology and amenities to support hot desking and hybrid working. The 40-person boardroom they used to have is now a thing of the past. The new space has 24 desks, some closed offices, a medium size boardroom and smaller meeting room, and a flex space called The Hub, which is a combination
of dining and flex workspace, that can accommodate larger meetings, and where the team can socialize.
Despite having fewer formal desks than staff, “everyone could work from there if they wanted to,” Peixoto says.
The company also wanted an open space, but with noise-reduction elements, more natural light, higher ceilings and bigger windows, soft seating areas and plants, to help make its employees feel as comfortable at the office as they do at home. Creating and providing a space where the health and well-being of the staff and professionals was paramount in the design.
“The goal was to move out of the existing space, moving to a hybrid work environment, because not everybody’s in the office every day, five days a week,” Peixoto says. “And just to make it a little bit more of a timeless, up-to-date office space where everyone could come and work at different times and share some spaces and work collaboratively with each other.”
For the couple of times a year when the firm might want to gather all employees in one place, it can use The Hub, which it already recently tested during an office “town hall” and it worked well. But World Exchange Plaza also has extra boardrooms available exclusively for tenants to use as part of the building’s new amenity offering.
“We call it The Commons,” says Stephanie Thompson, director of leasing at QuadReal Property Group (QuadReal), which manages World Exchange Plaza. “It’s around 8,000 square feet of brandnew, thoughtfully curated amenity space. We have this great breakout lounge area, which is like a co-working space, but for tenants only. There are three boardrooms — two 12-person boardrooms and a larger one that will accommodate about 30 people. It also features overflow seating as well. There’s a gym in The Commons, too, which is self-serve and also offers classes. The space was thoughtfully designed for tenants based on market trends and tenant needs we have been seeing over the past several years.”
In a coincidence, Parallel 45 designed the World Exchange’s The Commons space as well.
Andrée Lafrance, director of human resources at Marks & Clerk, says her
colleagues like the new space a lot, and that they like The Hub space best of all.
“It’s large; it’s bright; it’s got a lot of plants,” Lafrance says. “We have trees coming out of everywhere. The couches have plugs in them so people can go work in there if there’s not enough room in the office. It’s just a very nice, clean space. Everyone just feels good. And the word most often used to describe the space is ‘fancy’.”
The new office also has a locker-room area so employees can leave a certain number of personal things at the office, under lock and key.
Throughout the project, Lafrance says QuadReal was pleasant and easy to work with.
“On the building side, the onboarding went really well,” Lafrance says. “QuadReal was extremely co-operative in making sure the security people were informed and that our card access and everything worked out. Here, I feel everybody’s very responsive, and they hear us. So to me, that’s a big plus.”
Baker agrees. “Everyone has a smile on their face. Whether it’s in the parking garage or at security, it’s just been a real pleasure.”
A tight team
A PROJECT SPEAR-HEADED BY A DESIGN FIRM ENDED UP GUTTING AN OLD VET CLINIC AND TURNING IT INTO AN INNOVATIVE MEDICAL CLINIC WITH A WARM, WELCOMING ESTHETIC.
If ever there were a testament to a very good partnership, it’s the office of LifespanMD. The building had most recently been a veterinary clinic for the previous 25-plus years and Dr. Sam Hetz had purchased it for his medical clinic.
LifespanMD is an executive-style, longevity-focused medical clinic that aims to improve people’s health and lifespan. It’s designed for people
who want a proactive, personalized, precision-based approach to their health, says Hetz, co-founder. He says LifespanMD is not just looking at biomarkers, but his team also looks at key pillars of health, including sleep, stress, diet and exercise, all to help decrease the risk of cancer, heart, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.
But Hetz needed a space for his team to do all of that and spent some time looking for a building to house his new business.
“This was actually one of the very first buildings we looked at, and we sort of discarded it early on because of the work it needed. But when we looked at it from the point of view of what we were looking foraccessibility, proximity to the highway and free parking, all on one floor, it checked all the boxes. And the visibility of this place is phenomenal. We basically have a billboard [visible from the Queensway.]”
Hetz says it turned into a great project and a wonderful partnership. When he was reconsidering the building, he reached out to Parallel 45 Design Group Ltd. to do a site visit.
Sarah Oakley, principal interior designer at Parallel 45 Design Group Ltd., took on the project management and brought in Micucci Contracting.
PHOTO
WARM, MODERN AND WELCOMING, STATE OF THE ART ENVIRONMENT.
Thanks to Parallel 45’s design and Micucci’s attention to quality, LifespanMD customers are now greeted by a warm, welcoming lobby, with painted brick behind a gently lit sign. There is a presentation space to introduce new and potential clients to the program and discuss their wellness goals, examination rooms, a lunch room and a fitness area, all of which have a modern look that does a good job of remaining welcoming. The gym features a mural by Robert Larivière, also known as FALLDOWNG.
“It was a perfect marriage of the graphics we envisioned for the space and the modern edginess of the fitness area,” Oakley says.
Jim Micucci agrees.
“It turned out to be a fabulous team of players,” he says. “We basically transformed a very dated space into a warm and welcoming, state of the art environment. It had been a simple veterinary clinic for so many years, but Parallel 45’s vision came shining through in the end. I thought it came out and turned into a really classy-looking centre. We’re very proud and extremely happy with the results.”
BACK TO BARE BONES
Based on Parallel 45’s design, Micucci’s side of the project was “a complete gut,” he says. “We refinished most of the space and completely removed all floor finishes. We also removed all of the subfloors and installed all new subfloors throughout to eliminate sloping.”
He says the building had number of different levels because it started out as a house and then had at least two additions over the years.
“We basically started from scratch,” Micucci says. “There were a couple of structural issues because it was a very old building. Sam kept some of the medical offices because they served his purpose and then we revamped everything else. The back area turned into a fitness area. In the front, we opened it up, implemented some beautiful finishes, replaced the ceilings and put in a new and updated accessible washroom.”
“I get very excited by these types of conversions,” Oakley says. “There’s nothing more rewarding than converting a space into what is a beautiful facility for LifespanMD’s patients. I really wanted
a warm, modern esthetic. When we at Parallel 45 design spaces, and especially medical spaces, I don’t want to make people feel like they’re going into a clinic. I think we really hit the nail on the head with this space, because it offers that comfort — you feel like you’re being taken care of. It’s a nice balance.”
Hetz says his philosophy has always been to contract good people and stay out of their way. Oakley’s firm’s primary focus is corporate commercial interiors, but it also specializes in healthcare design and planning.
“It’s a sector we know very well and truly enjoy working in, supported by the same strong service and relationships we bring to all our projects,” Oakley says, adding that she prioritized where to spend money on quality finishes and furnishings and where she could be more economical.
“The three of us worked really well together,” Oakley says. “Sam was incredibly easy to work with and he trusted the process. They let us do our job and that made for such a successful project.”
For Micucci, this project was one that he is extremely proud of and he was so impressed on the concept of the clinic that he and his wife have joined the client list.
“I have nothing but great things to
say about it,” he says. “We do many, prestigious projects with Parallel 45 and we are very proud of all of them, but this one really hit home. We feel privileged working with Parallel 45 in bringing their projects to life.
TEAMWORK WAS KEY
Hetz says working with Oakley and Micucci was a breeze.
“From the very first day when Sarah
saw the place, she worked with Jim and together they gave us an approximate construction estimate and we essentially came right in on budget,” Hetz says. “It was spot-on and the communication from start to finish was terrific.”
Oakley recalls walking into the space, seeing the potential and being inspired and excited by it. Jim Micucci says seeing this kind of transformation and being part of it are among his biggest professional thrills. A MURAL BY FALLDOWNG ADDS MODERN EDGINESS TO THE FITNESS AREA.
