Rising 10 storeys from George Brown College’s waterfront campus in Toronto, Limberlost Place is the first institutional building of its kind in Ontario. The award-winning, net-zero, mass timber building has been a work in progress since construction began in September 2021. Now, as the B&M Mechanical Services team reaches the 80% completion mark, it’s hard to imagine the waterfront without it.
“Limberlost is more than a building; it will contribute significantly to revisions of the building code and allow for more mass timber buildings over six storeys tall,” says Senior Project Manager, Praveen Nirula. “Limberlost is designed to achieve Net Zero Carbon, LEED Gold and Toronto Green Standard V3 Tier 4 design, and it has already won multiple design awards.”
Scheduled for completion in 2025, the 200,000+ squarefoot home to future architectural students plays a key role in the revitalization of Toronto’s burgeoning East Waterfront community and stands as a shining example of what can be achieved with mass timber. It also showcases the latest smart technology and features a rooftop solar array and an eightstorey solar chimney for natural ventilation.
On a commemorative note, the building includes an exposed wooden beam on the 10th floor that has been signed by every individual who worked on Limberlost—architects, tradespeople, engineers, and more. This lasting tribute to all those involved in the historic building is a permanent reminder that projects of this size and scope require an intense amount of teamwork and mutual support.
“The cooperation between our internal divisions has been tremendous,” Praveen says. “The Building Automation and Sheet Metal teams have been instrumental to getting us to where we are today.”
Working with Mass Timber
While the project has received a slew of accolades, the road hasn’t been entirely without bumps. As Praveen explains, “timber construction was a new experience for the team, and the project required a lot of coordination and an integrated approach at initial stages between various trades. Considering that floor penetrations weren’t allowed during construction, all holes had to be drilled in the factory, planned well in advance, which put a lot of pressure upfront on our BIM team.”
“Being downtown has been the biggest challenge, logistically,” he says. “There is virtually no storage space, which means that the site can only accept just-in-time deliveries.”
Of course, moisture mitigation is another concern when working with mass timber, requiring the encapsulation of the building before any work can be done. Moisture creates bulges and swells; so the moment it rains, problems can quickly follow.
Limberlost has a complicated control system with many passive and active design features, along with the renewable energies, added to achieve the sustainable targets. “All these features had to be integrated—and work seamlessly—taking advantage of the local climate, microclimate, and reducing building energy use” adds Praveen.
The radiant ceiling system at Limberlost is another critical and unique feature and will function as the primary source for heating and cooling. Covering upwards of 40% of the ceiling, it is currently being installed by B&M’s mechanical team and involved a steep learning curve.
“The building and construction sector is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for over 30% of global emissions,” Praveen concludes. “George Brown College has set a benchmark for not only timber construction but also for sustainable construction. The experience has been great for the team and the team has learned a lot on this project.”
Black & McDonald would like to thank all key personnel for their hard work at Limberlost, including: Bruno Gatti, General Manager; Justin Biordi, Department Manager; Praveen Nirula, Senior Project Manager; Alex Badov, Site Foreman and Filipa Gomes, Project Coordinator.