Raising the roof at 1515 Douglas Street

Sama Jim Cazian Photography.

By Cindy Chan

Enviable views, thoughtful architecture and urban design — 1515 Douglas Street has all of that and more.

Located in Victoria, B.C. across from Victoria City Hall, this new commercial build consists of two parts, a 13-storey building tower in the back and a six-storey low-rise building in the front, all sitting on a shared parkade. Kevin Bisgrove, senior estimator and project manager for Campbell Construction, adds that there are two levels of underground parking.

Construction on the 111,428-squarefoot building began in June of 2015 and wrapped up in February 2018. The tower in the back consists of a fitness facility in the parkade, bike storage areas and some CRU spaces, as well as a lobby with a security desk and feature elevator lobby.

“From there, heading up the tower, there are two fully glazed glass elevators from which you can look across the city,” Bisgrove explains. “The building has five elevators in total, and two are the feature elevators, while the others are the grate elevator and two passenger elevators.”

Levels two to 13 in the tower are BCIMC (British Columbia Investment Management Corporation) offices. Bisgrove says the seventh floor has an amenity patio.

Meanwhile, the low-rise building showcases the rotunda area — the crown jewel of the whole project. The 20-metre, atrium roof structure is seven storeys off the ground floor, consisting of six radial boomerang-shaped glulam beam columns, connected by a three-metre steel ring beam in the centre, with 30-millimetre tension rods below each one.

“There was a desire for the structure to have depth to optimize the relationship between the rotunda and its height,” Bruce Johnson, managing director for RJC Engineers, says. Johnson adds he and the architect considered various options for the rotunda. “There are three scale models in my basement, and we chose the one which minimized materials and optimizes sunlight.”

“I think the roof structure is a showcase for the city of Victoria,” Bisgrove adds. “It’s a very unique building in terms of its aesthetic. You don’t see too many buildings with the same caliber.”

In addition to the unique rotunda roof, Bisgrove says another feature that separates 1515 Douglas Street from other buildings is the radiant panel heating system. The radiant ceiling panels were brought from Italy.

“Water runs through them, and we get both heating and cooling,” Bisgrove says, adding 1515 Douglas Street is the second building in British Columbia to include this feature. “That was one of the biggest challenges on the job — getting all the components and pieces on time from Europe.”

The first floor of the building includes retail spaces, a restaurant, a coffee shop and a security desk. Commercial tenants, many of whom are from the technology sector, occupy each floor upwards from that point.

Western Grater drilled and blasted approximately 24,000 cubic metres of urban bedrock for the underground parkade, according to Jared Wells, project manager for the project. They also provided shotcrete and tieback shoring around the perimeter where the rock was below streetlevel.

“We always do great work, but we were extra diligent because city hall was next door,” Wells laughs. “It went well. The vibrations were good. There weren’t major complications.”

Alpine Insulation provided the insulation services for the build, says coowner David Lewis.

“We did a variety of insulation applications throughout the two buildings including the circular atrium at the top of the building. The work done in the parkade is particularly pleasing as our highly experienced crew did an exceptional job,” Lewis explains.

For more information, visit https://www. jawlproperties.com/jawl-properties/1515- douglas-st.

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