Transpo HQ gets $14 million reno
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First it was bus routes, now OC Transpo wants to optimize its headquarters.
A renovation project with a $14-million budget is expected to begin this summer at Transpo’s administration offices at 1500 St. Laurent Blvd.
The city includes reasons for the work in its request for architectural proposals, which was published Monday.
“Over the last few years OC Transpo has seen an increase in demand in service delivery to the public and has made some positive changes in their organizational structure to better serve the public,” the document says.
Transpo says it needs the renovation to “accommodate staff, provide a positive and safe working environment for staff and ensure the sustainability” of the building.
The facelift is also needed to answer Transpo’s “future needs,” the document says.
A building evaluation notes about 40 more workers are expected to be moved into workstations, although a separate consultant’s report on space requirements identifies 63 more bodies added to the building by 2015. There are currently 272 employees who work out of the offices at Transpo headquarters and most of them work in safety, business services and customer relations, the consultant’s report says.
Most of the year-long work will happen on the second, third and fourth floors.
The age of headquarters is beginning to show, according to building assessments, which say the administration facility was built in 1959. The building underwent renovations in the 1970s and 1980s. Two more upgrades happened in 1994 and 2004.
The next renovation will update the building’s guts – like the mechanical and electrical systems – and structural work could also be in the plan, however a December 2011 evaluation suggests structural upgrades would not be required unless the chief building official decides otherwise.
New floor designs have been sketched out for the three levels, so plumbing and ventilation connections could be rearranged.
The first floor was recently renovated for management office space, but Transpo has further plans to add a new cafeteria, meeting areas and possibly a new “wellness/fitness area,” the request for proposals says.
A $140,000 public art component has been factored into the budget since the city has a policy to dedicate 1% of construction budgets for public art.
The city is giving construction contractors until Feb. 14 to submit proposals.
jon.willing@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @JonathanWilling
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