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Security & Defence | Western Canada

442 Search and Rescue Squadron Hangar

CFB Comox, British Columbia

This project involved the construction (design build) of two new hangars – one for the rotary wing aircraft (including the older Chinook helicopters and the new CH149 Cormorant helicopters), and the other fixed wing aircraft, sized for both the CC115 (Buffalo) aircraft and the replacement CC130 (Hercules). The hangars were tendered and built in two phases. The new 14 030 m² facility includes maintenance hangars, shops and offices for secure squadron support facilities, operations and mission planning, and an emergency response centre including the coordination of Coast Guard and RCMP requirements. The facilities were designed to meet the most severe seismic and post disaster requirements of 1 Canadian Air Division.

Architecture49 provided architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering services as the client’s representative for this design build project. The initial mandate involved a Hangar and Flight Line Option Analysis Study to identify infrastructure requirements including an Existing Facilities Condition Report; options for midlife retrofit, renovation and/or new construction with business case and life cycle costing for each option. The next phase involved the development of a Statement of Requirements, Performance Specification, tender phase services and construction phase services. The performance documents included the development of the selected option to reflect current Building Codes, NFPA hangar standards, CFFM requirements, DND CETO Standards, current technology and specialized user requirements.

Sustainable features included extensive daylight harvesting throughout the facility, a specific waste management and recycling plan, an environmental impact assessment and guidelines including a water runoff management plan, hazardous waste collection of AFFF foam and other materials.