CANA Construction - Wyckham House

Learning is all about challenging yourself, and it’s fitting that CANA Construction recently took on a challenging project at an institution of higher learning – Alberta’s Mount Royal College.

The company, one of the province’s leading contractors, is adding a 22,800-square-foot addition to the school’s Wyckham House building, a project initiated and overseen by the students themselves.

CANA Project Manager T.J. Fletcher says CANA has built a strong relationship with the school over the years, completing several projects for the school in the last 20 years. The current project is a radical departure from the normally traditional architecture of the campus, and working with the students requires special communication skills to break the work down and prevent misunderstandings, he says. Fortunately for both sides of the project, CANA has the skills needed to make the project work.

Building prominent projects in and around Calgary, Alberta, has been the focus of CANA Construction since its inception more than 66 years ago, Fletcher says.

“We take pride in building a lot of the higher-profile projects in Calgary,” he says.

Fletcher says the company has distinguished itself by taking on difficult projects and making them work. The key to this is no secret, he adds.

“It’s just our commitment to providing quality construction strategies and solutions, using a think-straight, talk-straight, do-it-right once attitude,” he says. “That is straight from CANA’s mission statement.”

Unusual Project
Located in Calgary, Mount Royal College serves approximately 12,000 students. Wyckham House is the school’s student center, featuring a food court and faculty offices.

The new addition will add about 22,800 square feet to the existing building, and will include food kiosks, study space, lounge areas, meeting rooms and offices, Fletcher says.

The first phase of the project, the construction of new areas, is to be completed by September, according to Fletcher.

The second phase of the project, which will reconfigure and renovate existing space in the original building, began in May and is also scheduled for completion in time for the fall academic semester in September.

The highlight of the project has been the construction of a new atrium area for student-organized events.

It will be known as the Council Chambers. Fletcher says the Council Chambers feature some unusual architecture for the campus; specifically, a semi-circular footprint and sloping, bronze-colored curtainwall glazing and framing for the exterior of the Council Chambers.

Jeff Pritchard, Mount Royal College’s construction manager, says the atrium is unlike anything seen on the campus before. “It’s a very bold design,” he says.

“It looks like a truncated barrel [and] has curvilinear [features] projected out from the surface of the building about 15 degrees.” He adds that the addition will be a “very high-profile visual addition” to the campus.

Fletcher says the construction of the atrium proved challenging for CANA from a structural standpoint, with the first two floors being concrete and the third floor and roof being structural steel. Despite this, however, he says the company was able to build it, thanks to careful planning.

“Our success is attributed to our group approach to solving problems with the architect and subtrades,” Fletcher says.

Strong Relationship
Pritchard says the relationship already established between the school and CANA made the contractor the top choice for the Wyckham House project. Many of the campus’ buildings bear the mark of CANA.

The company’s first project for the school was a three-story, $5 million addition to its Arts Wing building.

The 69,000-square-foot addition added two lecture halls, meeting rooms and classroom space and was completed in 1986.

Since then, the company has gone on to complete more projects for the school, including, most recently, the 87,000-square-foot Centre for Continuous Learning. The project, completed in 2006, was built to LEED Canada specifications and achieved a rating of Gold.

This meant the addition of such environmentally conscious features as rain water collection, a high-efficiency roof and exposed concrete for better heat retention in the winter.

During construction, CANA implemented an indoor air quality management plan to keep volatile organic compounds out of the air and a waste management plan to reduce landfill waste.

Another significant project CANA undertook for Mount Royal College was the expansion of its athletic facilities.

The $22 million project added 196,000 square feet, including three basketball courts, an elevated track, a climbing wall and multi-use areas.

Completed in 2002, the project required extensive demolition and renovation to existing locker and office areas.

The company was also responsible for the construction of the college’s East Academic Wings phases I and II, two 143,000-square-foot classroom, laboratory and office spaces valued at $20 million and $14 million and completed in 2002 and a 2003, respectively.

The combination of previous experience and a competitive bid added up to CANA’s selection for the Wyckham House project, Pritchard says. “CANA was selected primarily for their previous track record in building free-standing buildings here on campus,” he says.

Student Administration
The construction of the Wyckham House expansion may have been unusual, but even more unusual was the way in which the project was managed.

“The Wyckham House project is unique on several levels, primarily because it’s really the first project actively taken on by the student association,” Pritchard says.

The school’s student association funded the project and selected the architect, S2 Architecture in Calgary.

Pritchard says this places the student association at the level of the school’s administration in terms of control over the project, and that has required a careful approach by the school and CANA. He says that even though the student association has been very adept at handling the responsibilities given to it, there are still many intricacies of the construction process that can baffle even college graduates.

Fortunately, he says, CANA has been patient in keeping the lines of communication open. This has resulted in a very smooth project so far, he states.

“CANA has been very proactive in maintaining a very open level of communication,” Pritchard says.

He says Fletcher and Site Superintendent Scott Dendy have gone out of their way to make sure many of the details of the process are demystified for the students. Pritchard adds the two have been open and accessible to the college and the student association.

“[Fletcher and Dendy have] been great to work with,” he says.

The communication between CANA and the student association has made it possible for the students to be very involved in the project. Wyckham House has been a project by the students, for the students, Pritchard says.

“As the project comes into fruition and the walls are going up and the physical space is being realized, the student association, through weekly meetings, has a significant input into the construction, right down to future finishes,” he adds.

Doing The Job Right
CANA was founded in 1942, and is currently owned by John Simpson, the son of former Chairman Jack Simpson.

The company is comprised of commercial contractor CANA Construction, infrastructure and utility contractor ACE Construction Co. and land developer Shepard Development Corp.

Originally known as Burns and Dutton Concrete Construction Co., the company is headquartered in Calgary with a satellite office in Fort McMurray.

The company says its focus is on getting the job done right, no matter what. “We provide quality construction strategies and solutions in a safe environment, on budget and on schedule, using a think-straight, talk-straight, do-it-right-once attitude with no surprises,” the company says.

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