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Medical Pharmacies Group (MPG)

In the middle of June 2015, Huntington Properties approached Alliance with an interesting and challenging project: the 10,000 square-foot design-build and fitup of a space required for the Medical Pharmacies Group (MPG) at 2447 Kaladar.

  • Date: 2015
  • Client: Huntington Properties
  • Project Type: Design-Build

Background

Huntington Properties is a commercial real estate and property management company based in Ottawa. Since 1996, it has achieved a unique portfolio through its footprint in Ottawa’s most popular and up-and-coming neighbourhoods such as Westboro, Wellington West Village, and Hintonburg.

It specializes in midsized office, retail and industrial properties and leasing in the National Capital Region of Ottawa-Gatineau. The MPG project presented Alliance with a difficult task: to take a huge empty space in an old dilapidated warehouse and have it completed and ready for occupancy by November 2015.

 

 

 
 
 

Challenges

In just five months, Huntington Properties and Alliance had to generate a concept, acquire a construction permit from the City of Ottawa, change the gas service, the incoming water service, and update the electrical service to accommodate the increased power required for cooling.

A major factor for MPG was the requirement for backup power to maintain business continuity and 100% productivity; therefore, Alliance had to ensure that a backup generator provided 100% backup power in case of an emergency.

As all Alliance services are done in-house, it was crucial to organize and schedule the project to ensure no valuable time was lost and to meet all project requirements within the extremely tight deadline: in just five months get an empty, dilapidated space ready for occupancy along with the ability to commence operations immediately.

Solutions

In only two weeks, Alliance designed a concept and prepared permit drawings for submission to the City. At the same time, Alliance contacted Hydro, Enbridge and the City Water Services to commence the changes and upgrades of these services.

Alliance had to consider all the many assignments associated with the project and commence them in a methodical manner. For example, a transformer typically takes around 14 to 16 weeks, so Alliance had to act quickly and efficiently to determine loads to get the transformer delivered to the site.

Furthermore, Alliance had to design a backup power system and order a generator, adding another layer of complexity to the project.

Result

In early November 2015, the tenant moved into a fully commissioned building with a 100% backup power system designed and installed by Alliance’s in-house forces.

“We’ve known the partners since they started the company, and over the years we’ve worked with them on a multitude of projects. When we were looking for a unique approach to mechanical and electrical design and implementation, their model looked very good to us—especially from a developer’s perspective.

When you work with them on a design-build project, you know what you’re getting into from the start and you know exactly what your costs are going to be. For a developer, this is really efficient as it’s critical to evaluate cost implications.”

Download our case study in PDF format here.