UBC life sciences

UBC Life Sciences Building

At 51,000 square Meters, (548,000 sq ft), the Life Sciences Building is now the largest building at the University of British Columbia. It is a state of the art medical teaching and research facility with a variety of laboratories, lecture theatres, classrooms, seminar and reading rooms, administration offices and a major vivarium. The building is designed to accommodate a total of 2,900 people.

The building houses one of the largest Level III Biohazard Facilities in North America.

It was the largest building in Canada to achieve the international LEED Gold certification award for innovative environmental sustainability features for design, construction and operation.

Some of the special features for this building include water conservation strategies, dual flush toilet fixtures, sense controlled faucets, heat recovery from all exhaust ventilation systems, fume hoods with reduced flow rates, maximum use of outdoor natural lighting and automatic lighting control. Construction materials, which had relatively low emission of volatile organic compounds, were chosen. An aggressive waste management program was adopted during construction. Eighty per cent of the construction waste was salvaged or recycled.

Western Mechanical Services is pleased to have been chosen to provide the air and water testing and balancing for the mechanical systems. The mechanical and electrical systems were designed to save a total of 5.5 million Kilowatt Hours every year. To achieve these savings and yet ensure that the interior building environment is comfortable throughout, the flow of air and water through the mechanical systems had to be adjusted within fine tolerances.

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