North Hamilton Community Health Centre
Highlights
- Completed: January 2011 Size: 28,000 sq. ft. Location: Hamilton, Ontario
"The building has already become the 'heart and pulse' of the neighbourhood."
Description
The North Hamilton Community Health Centre is a new construction project with McCallum Sather Architects as the Architect of Record and Parkin Architects as the Associate Architect. Recently opened in January 2011, this community-based health centre offers primary care and related services to Hamilton’s north end community. The new 28,000 sq. ft. centre is located a short distance away from the existing centre which consists of a leased space which is 50% smaller than the new building.
The facility program is based on four major functional groups: primary care clinic, rehabilitation and chiropody, health promotion, and immigrant and refugee programs. The physical parameters of the site combined with the functional program requirements result in an efficient two storey building design that will stand proudly within the City’s community and urban context. Consideration for its urban context, as well as extensive consultation with a large stakeholder group, played a critical role in the design process.
The project is registered for LEED with LEED Silver as the designated target. The building is estimated to have an energy savings of over 45%. LEED features include: passive cooling through natural ventilation within the central atrium space, passive solar management through building form and tectonics, significant water conservation measures, as well as enhancing indoor air quality through careful selection of interior fittings and finishes.
McCallum Sather Architects: Architect of Record
Parkin Architects: Associate Architect
Sustainable Features
- An HRV (heat recovery ventilator) uses the heat from the mechanical system exhaust to pre-heat incoming fresh air
- The building has a higher than average level of building insulation
- High-performance fiberglass windows
- Window orientation, together with exterior solar control screening, captures abundant natural light that reduces the electric lighting demand within the building
- Occupancy and daylight sensors control the lights, automatically turning them on and off depending if the room is being used
- None of the building equipment contains CFCs or ozone depleting gases
- 85% of the roof is built with a light-coloured membrane, allowing for a high degree of sun reflectance
- 7% of the roof is a vegetated "green" roof, which is also visible to the occupants on the second floor
- Provisions have been made on the roof to install photovoltaic solar panels in the future
- High-efficiency lavatories, sinks, and showers
- A 43,800L stormwater cistern has been installed on site. This greywater system is estimated to provide all the water need to operate the building's toilets and urinals
- The site landscaping design includes drought resistant and native species of grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, and trees to avoid the need for any permanent irrigation system
In the News
- "Always good news", CTS TV, May 11, 2011
- "North End has a new health centre", The Hamilton Spectator, February 10, 2011