The James Michael Flaherty Building, located at 90 Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa, was constructed to suit a Government of Canada RFP for a Class “A” office space with retail space and underground parking.
The 70,000m2 building has two ground floor levels due to the differing levels of the adjacent streets. The reinforced concrete structure extends down three levels and is founded on rock. The building is adjacent to the existing 12 storey Capital Hill Hotel on the West side and major downtown streets on the remaining sides (Slater Street to the South, Albert Street to the North, and Elgin Street to the East).
The Pavilion facing Elgin Street is 8 storeys and the tower to the West is 17 storeys. The East Pavilion and West Tower are linked with a continuous concrete slab and perimeter steel bridges on the North and South sides which provide Architectural continuity.
The project was designed to achieve a LEED Gold environmental certification. The LEED certification was achieved with the use of structural aspects, which included features such as a cast-in-place underground cistern, green roofs, green walls, along with incorporating limestone into the cladding.
The Government of Canada tenant fit-up for individual office spaces required engineering associated with designing the structure to resist internal blast forces, support frames for folding partitions and wall mounted equipment, as well as load reviews related to positioning and allowable size of mobile shelving units along with shredder/disintegrator units.