NAIT Productivity and Innovation Centre wins CEA Award of Excellence

February 9, 2019

On Friday, February 8th, the Productivity and Innovation Centre and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) received the Award of Excellence at the Consulting Engineers of Alberta award gala.

The Productivity and Innovation Centre is a 190,000 square foot multipurpose building that houses advanced research and testing laboratories, spaces for small and medium-sized businesses, a dedicated hub for applied research activity along with administrative, teaching and service spaces.  Designed and constructed through the use of a collaborative and integrated process, this steel and concrete framed building features innovative, sustainable and adaptable structural, mechanical and electrical systems.

The building was conceived as two distinctive wings each with their own unique structural system that was tailored to specific research functions. The single story high head laboratory wing utilizes a steel frame system. While this appears conventional, a unique and innovative steel truss and girder solution was developed to simplify the installation and routing of the mechanical and electrical systems as well as provide future flexibility as the spaces are re-purposed overtime.

The Productivity and Innovation Centre is targeting a LEED Gold certification for new construction, exceeding the project’s mandated Silver target through the use of a photovoltaic system, the use of structural systems that minimized material usage and efficient mechanical and electrical systems.

The project team included GEC Architecture, Fast + Epp, SMP Engineering (mechanical), and KFR Engineering (electrical).