2020 CANADIAN CONSULTING ENGINEERING AWARDS
BUILDINGS
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Amélioration des infrastructures de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec
WSP Canada
Quebec’s National Assembly sought to upgrade its facilities by adding improved spaces for greeting visitors and holding parliamentary commission meetings. WSP’s civil and structural engineering services were dedicated to enhancing the existing parliament building’s heritage features, creating a new underground pavilion area and enabling more secure access for citizens to the National Assembly. A need for innovation Constructed in the 1880s, the parlia-
ment building was becoming obsolete and needed to be upgraded and renovated to meet the assembly’s present and future needs, given increasing numbers of parliamentary sessions and visitors. New areas were added without altering the heritage and symbolic character of the historic building. WSP developed the underground reception pavilion under the site’s landscaped area. An elevator in the courtyard provides access to the building’s upper floors without altering its heritage façade. A 21-m long tunnel to the reception pavilion was excavated in bedrock directly under the building’s main wing, while a 27-m long tunnel was also added to connect the pavilion to the Pamphile-Le May building. In total, 5,300 m2 of space was added. The design required innovation. Instead of using conventional membranes to weatherproof the walls adjacent to the rock surface, for example, bituminous foil membranes were installed directly in the formwork before concrete was poured. This technique prevented over-excavating of the rock behind the walls and allowed new foundation walls to be positioned less than 1 m from the
“It’s a great, complex project, with lots of structural challenges connecting to an existing heritage building.” –Jury 30
www.canadianconsultingengineer.com
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Excavation in bedrock enabled the addition of tunnels leading to a new reception pavilion. October/November 2020
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