The Fairmont Pacific Rim project comprises more than one million square feet including parkade, hotel, retail and residential space.

With big towns latching onto the convenience and comfort of luxury living, the hottest trend today in big cities is condo-hotel developments. Following this craze is Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with the Fairmont Pacific Rim project, the city's last premium waterfront property development. The 48-story building is located on Vancouver's Coal Harbour, with views of the North Shore Mountains, Stanley Park, Lions Gate Bridge and Canada Place.

The Fairmont project comprises over one million square feet including parkade, hotel, retail and residential space. It is a post-tensioned concrete structure enclosed with a curtain wall. The tower rises out of a nine-story podium level.

Fairmont is scheduled to be completed in 2009 after 40 months of construction, just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The project features a five-star 22-floor hotel with 415 rooms and amenities, and 173 luxurious residential condos on the upper 26 floors. The residential units will range from 727 to 2,700 square feet. A 2,700 square-foot-unit costs $5.7 million (Canadian).

Bob Rennie, owner of Rennie Marketing Systems and the person in charge of the project's marketing efforts, says all units facing the water are sold out and only 18 out of 173 units are out on the market. “This is the most expensive residential address in Canada,” Rennie notes. “In Vancouver, there are very few development sites left that are on the water, and this is the only site built with a residential tower.”

Rennie describes Vancouver as a “real estate town,” and the Fairmont project makes the city even more unique, he says. “It's a perfect storm,” he continues. “[Fairmont] is a scarce product, it's on a rare location, and [both the] architect's reputation and the Fairmont brand are good.”

'Arm's Length Ownership'
The Fairmont project is a joint venture between two of Canada's leading real estate developers: Westbank Projects Corp. and Peterson Group. It is one of the duo's several mixed-use projects in Vancouver, including the city's tallest tower, Living Shangri-La, and a high-profile development called Woodward's Redevelopment.

The joint venture established 299 Burrard Development Inc., to oversee and build the project. “We supervise the contract as if we are a normal general contractor, but are fully owned and with a direct control by [Westbank-Peterson],” according to Simon Holwill, project director and construction manager. “It's an arm's length ownership.”

This approach, Holwill says, benefits the developers and the owners because they see this model as giving them more control over all aspects of the development and construction process.

“We work directly with the owner and the design team, and the owner is integral to the success of the entire team,” he adds. “They gave us direct control over the whole construction process, starting from scratch, and I was able to hire a very good construction team, comprising a good mix of senior, experienced people and some sharp young talent. This kind of marquee project attracts attention.

“Design development and changes are ongoing,” Holwill continues. “The owner is definitely hands-on in terms of design criteria and aesthetics. “There is a very symbiotic relationship between the design team, the construction team and the owner.”

The project team also includes hotel operator Fairmont Hotels & Resorts; James KM Cheng Architects Inc., architect and residential interior designer; Phillips Farevaag Architecture, landscape architect; Kay Lang + Associates; and Jones Kwong Kishi, structural engineers; Sterling Cooper and Associates, mechanical engineers; Nemetz & Associates, electrical engineers; and Rennie Marketing Systems, marketing and sales.

Staying Ahead
Construction started in late summer 2006. “During excavation we encountered water and geotechnical problems, which delayed us,” Holwill says. “We are below sea level in the lower parkade. In addition, the recent cold winter slowed work for a time, but once springtime came, the project has been sailing along very well so far.

“Site productivity is ahead of our projections at this time, and we have made up the delays and are gaining a bit of time in the structure,” he adds.

“We have had good commitment from trades and I think everyone is working very well for us. There is a sense of pride on everyone's part.”

In recent years, Vancouver has been busy in preparation for the 2010 Olympics. “There's a lot of infrastructure work going on,” Holwill adds, “and all that work is going on at the same time. It sucks up all available people in a relatively small market like Vancouver, [especially] the iron and concrete workers.”

The company, however, anticipated the problem early on and secured resources ahead of time. “We try to stay ahead of the game a little bit,” Holwill states. “There [are] a number of projects [because of] the Olympics, so our focus is to [stay] on the construction schedule as [much as] we can.”

Constant Interaction
The company has invested in technological solutions to assist in project communication and management of information. “We extended our network system to our job site allowing us to have an integrated solution of project management, scheduling and estimating/cost control,” Holwill states.

“Any part of the team can retrieve [or] submit information in a timely, efficient manner,” he continues. Communication plays a big part in the Fairmont project, Holwill stresses. “The staff work closely together,” he says. “There's a lot of interaction.”    

“The [project] is moving quickly and people report to one another. This is typical of large jobs with aggressive schedules. It can be quite stressful on people, so we go for the fun factor and laugh a lot and stay focused and positive.”

The Fairmont project currently has up to 120 people on-site, including 12 people currently on staff. Holwill says he expects the project crew to grow to at least 350 during the peak construction periods.

In the future, Rennie says the Vancouver market will continue to flourish with construction projects. “In 1986, we had Expo ’86,” he recalls. “We handed out our business card to the world and we [established] a reputation with Europe, America and Asia. We're a world-class city, and now we're about to do it again with Olympics 2010.”