Vancouver Convention Centre West
With the expansion of the West building, the Vancouver Convention Centre is now one of the largest structures in Canada. It is also widely recognised as one of the most sustainable and environmentally friendly convention centres in the world. It extends four city blocks with a footprint of 1.1 million square feet (102,193 m2).
The facility has many sustainable features including a sea water heating and cooling system, a six-acre green roof (24,281 m2), and an on-site waste water treatment facility that has reduced potable water use by 72.6%.
To withstand the salt water and harsh topographical challenges, HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Ocean Concrete used more than 10,000 m3 of high durability concrete containing both silica fume and corrosion inhibitor. To enhance the 30 foot (9 meter) tall architectural columns, Ocean Concrete’s HighFlow Self-Consolidating Concrete was used. In the 300 foot (91 meter) by 735 foot (224 meter) main exhibition hall slab, more than 4,000 m3 of Ocean’s CrackGuard and HardWear concrete was used to reduce cracking and improve abrasion resistance.
As a result, the Exhibition Hall slab exceeded architectural expectations for surface appearance and reduced cracking. Vancouver Convention Centre is the first convention centre to achieve Platinum certification by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification programme. The concrete supplied on this project had an overall post-industrial recycled content of 64% as per LEED NCv1.0.
The centre received several awards:
- 2011, Green Supplier Silver Award, IMEX
- 2011, Top 10 Green Project, American Institute of Architects
- 2010, Award of Excellence, Urban Land Institute
- 2010, SAB Green Building Award, Sustainable Architecture & Building Magazine
- 2009, LEED Platinum Certification
- 2008, World’s Best Congress Centre
