Located 95 kilometres east of Calgary, Siksika Nation is growing quickly, and there is a shortage of safe and quality housing. Existing homes require significant work to bring them up to living standard, and more homes need to be built to accommodate the growing population. Many Elders and residents live in homes requiring repairs or renovations to address safety and health concerns.

The community prioritized Elders’ units and multi-generational homes in which Elders reside for the pilot project. Elders represent the most vulnerable members of the community. Focusing on Elders’ needs first improves safety and well-being for Elders and respects Elders who play a key role in Indigenous Communities, passing on their knowledge and cultural principles.

The Nation needed to identify what work needed to be done, create a strategy (with limited funds and need for transparency) to conduct the required maintenance, and manage the ongoing repairs.

The Siksika Nation Housing Department provides and maintains the Nation’s public housing for approximately 1,235 homes. In 2022, the Housing Department completed over 200 inspections of Elders’ homes with the help of home inspection firms, whose comprehensive reports detailed recommendations for repairs.

The Housing Department has limited funding and labour resources to meet the community’s needs, and also faces capacity constraints. The Department engaged Associated Engineering to assist with developing an efficient and cost-effective action plan, and provide project management support for the first phase of the Elders’ Homes Repair Program. In addition to assisting with the repair program, we helped the Housing Department with strategic planning, and developed tools to help build internal capacity to plan and budget future work.

Project Manager, Abu Waraich, tells us, “Our work included a significant data management component. The home inspection reports contained a large amount of information in text form. Converting this text to a useable form required creating programming scripts to extract and process over 5,000 recommendations from the inspection reports.”

The home inspection reports were completed almost two years ago. The reports assigned priorities to all of the recommendations, so risks to the safety of the residents could be addressed first. However, since the inspections, some of the information in the reports were outdated, and in many cases the condition of different components became worse.

Abu says, “With digitization of the data in the reports, the priorities assigned to different repairs could be modified as new information became available, allowing the project team to quickly pivot and allocate funds within the project budget to the highest risk homes and items. Items which had lower risk to residents could be assigned lower urgency and can be addressed in future phases.”

Our team worked closely with the Housing Department to ensure that they were involved in the development and rollout of plans and tools. When developing the costing spreadsheet to help operations staff estimate the cost of completing repairs and maintenance, Associated worked closely with Housing Department staff and a cost consultant so they could understand the new approach to costing and incorporated their feedback to make the tool as user friendly as possible.

During the repairs and renovations, Associated kept residents informed about the repair work. Project team member, Jorey Robin, says, “We worked hard to establish a rapport with residents. Along with the contractor and the Siksika Housing Department, we met with Elders to describe the work being completed on their homes and explained the phased approach.”

Associated is currently reviewing and organizing the various Housing Capital Programs and identifying where the Nation could improve their data management so that they can improve how they manage projects and funding/grant applications.

Our key personnel on the project are Abu Waraich, Jorey Robin, and Craig MacDonald.

The post Siksika Nation develops strategic approach to improve condition of housing supply first appeared on Associated Engineering.

Located on Simon Fraser University’s campus in Burnaby, BC, Parcel 21 is a model for energy-efficient housing, incorporating Passive House principles, a rigorous energy-efficient design standard. Completed in early 2022, the residential complex consists of a four-storey wood-frame building situated on top of a concrete parkade, as well as a six-storey wood-frame building and a steel pavilion building. Owned by the SFU Community Trust, the facility includes 90 affordable rental apartment units dedicated to SFU students with families. There is also a central courtyard and community space, along with amenities such as study rooms and secure bike storage. 

Parcel 21 project incorporates Passive House principles for energy conservation

Local Practice Architecture retained Associated Engineering to provide structural and electrical engineering services on this $23 million project. Structural Lead and Engineer-of-Record, Jermyn Wong, tells us, “To meet the rigorous BC Energy Step Code requirements, our team applied many Passive House principles in our design. These included a well-insulated building envelope, a continuous air barrier to minimize leakage, high-performance windows, engineering and detailing of connections to minimize thermal bridging, a heat-recovery ventilation system, canopies and other structures that are thermally separated from the building envelope, and sunshades that help prevent overheating in the summer.”

One of the key challenges that the project team addressed was wood shrinkage, an important consideration in the design of mid-rise, wood frame structures such as Parcel 21. Jermyn says, “We carefully considered the structural detailing to mitigate vertical shrinkage of the structure. We used engineered-wood floor I joists; prescribed a moisture content limit for all wood studs and wall plates; and detailed the interface between the floor framing and masonry elevator shafts to ensure the wood structure could shrink vertically near the shaft walls.”

To preserve the continuity of the thermal envelope, the team specified out-board insulation to eliminate potential thermal bridging between the exterior stud walls and each level of the floor structure. The team specified insulation in the wall cavity of the first level of the residential interior walls, in combination with horizontal insulation on top of concrete slab above the parkade to minimize thermal bridging at that interface. In addition, detailing of the cantilever canopies and sunshade connections to the exterior walls was carefully undertaken to minimize thermal bridging.

Addressing the high seismicity in the Lower Mainland was another challenge. Jermyn tells us, “We used continuous tie-down rod systems at the ends of the shear walls to resist seismic overturning. These rods have take-up devices to compensate for the vertical shrinkage at each floor. The shear walls were laid out so they continue for the full height of the building, despite varying room layouts at each level.  Also, special drag strut details were necessary due to the lack of a concrete floor topping.”

Parcel 21 also includes passive heating and cooling, using a heat exchanger to transfer heat from the Burnaby Mountain District Energy Utility to generate hot water on demand. 

Project Manager, David Woo, says, “In 2019, SFU Parcel 21 was selected as one of 11 winners of the Net Zero Energy Ready (NZER) Challenge competition in BC, a provincial CleanBC incentive program for large building construction. The program provides financial support for developments targeting NZER.” 

Parcel 21 also received the Residential (Large) Award at the 2023 SAB Magazine Canadian Green Building Awards.

Our key personnel on the project included David Woo, Jermyn Wong, Esaly Wu, Louis De Lange, and Eunice Fang. 

The post Parcel 21 at Simon Fraser University provides energy efficient housing on campus first appeared on Associated Engineering.

The Lethbridge Housing Authority provides safe, secure, and affordable housing for people in need in the Lethbridge region. In 2017, the Authority, with funding by Lansol Ltd., sought to develop affordable, accessible living for senior applicants, as a P3 (Public-Private Partnership) with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The project is part of a $444 million investment through the Canada Alberta Housing Benefit that funds rent support for nearly 35,500 Alberta households.

Lansol Ltd. engaged Associated Engineering to complete outline planning, rezoning, conceptual land-use layouts, preliminary and detailed design of off-site services, permit drawings, civil and electrical design for on-site services, landscape design for the open-space areas, and accessible sidewalk design. We also coordinated with third parties involved in the project, provided construction inspection for civil works, and coordinated geotechnical and testing works and various permits.

The original legal and zoning plan envisioned a high-rise apartment complex and eight duplex condo units along the boundary. The condo units were constructed prior to Lansol acquiring the land. Rezoning for a new land use required public engagement with the existing condo association to change the land use. Approval was required by all of the condo residents, prior to rezoning and subdividing the land. 

The project’s proposed schedule was to complete the Outline Plan amendment, rezoning, subdivision, development permit, off-site services, on-site design, civil construction and building construction within a year. Typically, this process could take upwards of three years. Through our collective and collaborative efforts with the City of Lethbridge Administration, we received timely feedback to fast track the schedule for permits and tender ready drawings packages.

The multi-family site was focused on affordable seniors’ complexes, and, as a result, half of the buildings constructed are accessible. Project Manager, Billy Crawford, explains, “Half of the parking was required to be barrier-free to accommodate the accessible housing, which made it a challenge to meet the parking criteria on the limited amount of paved surface. Our project team evaluated innovative land-use options, including strategic building placement and alternative stormwater management solutions to maximize efficient use of the land.” 

“Conventional stormwater management facilities, including ponds, was not viable due to limited space. Our team came up with an innovative approach to create underground stormwater storage by upsizing the minor system pipes.” 

The electrical design was unique for a multi-family development, as it was hosted by one electrical meter in order to minimize administrative costs and offer cost savings in the future, as the units are being marketed as rentals. The team developed a servicing strategy whereby the units were powered from a switchboard on-site, instead of the typical multiple electrical transformers. We serviced all the buildings with deep and shallow utilities, including streetlights, and power plugs to the parking stalls.

Communication was important in developing and sharing the concepts of the proposed buildings, and key site features. Billy shares, “During construction, our resident inspector, Emilee Kaupp, would regularly check in with residents to answer their questions or concerns related to schedule, construction activities, and temporary utility service shut offs. 

Associated Engineering also worked collaboratively with the home builder, Avonlea Homes Ltd., to deliver a successful project on an unprecedented schedule. To date, the project has received positive feedback from the surrounding neighborhood.

Our key personnel on this project included Billy Crawford, Emilee Kaupp, Kristi Stickel-Burke, Adam McDonald, and Mario Nunez. 

The post Affordable seniors’ complexes help meet residential and accessibility needs in Southern Alberta first appeared on Associated Engineering.

As we celebrate our 75th anniversary in 2021, we take a look back at our legacy of achievements and milestones over the years, as chronicled in our company newsletter that began publishing in 1967…

Originally appeared in AE Today, Winter 1975 issue

For the first time in Canadian history, a First Nations band has been given the authority to manage its own land. On November 6, 1974, the Sechelt Indian Band of the Sechelt Peninsula, just north of Vancouver, had final details confirmed by the band’s housing authority administrator, Gilbert Joe, in talks with the federal Department of Indian Affairs. Since November, the band has been authorized to sell homes on leased band property.

Until last year, with all First Nations land held in trust by the Crown, it was impossible for First Nations to lease their lands directly, or even to arrange financing through a bank. Now, four Sechelt band members are agents of the Crown under the Minister for Indian Affairs, Judd Buchanan, and have the same powers as appointed civil servants.

For a two-year period, while it negotiated for self-management privileges, the Sechelt Band cleared land, installed telephone, hydro, cablevision, and waste services, and built foundations for modular homes. Tsawcome Properties, the name of the development, is located five kilometres south of Sechelt. 

The housing project started in 1972 when band manager, Clarence Joe, made inquiries about 120 houses that were to be removed from an old army camp in Ladner. The band could not afford to buy the houses, but the Department of Indian Affairs bought them in 1973 and offered them to the Sunshine Coast Tribal Council. As a result, 60 houses went to Powell River First Nations, 40 to the Sechelt band, and the remainder to smaller reserves.

Throughout the laying of foundations for the modular homes and the installation of sewer and other systems, the Sechelt Band has had a full-time economic consultant in employ, while Associated Engineering has been retained as the consulting engineers for the overall development of the housing projects on a continuing basis.

The post [AE75] Land management: a precedent for Canadian First Nation first appeared on Associated Engineering.