Morrison Hershfield was engaged by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo) to act as the Building Envelope Professional for the roof replacement on the high profile BC Place multi-purpose stadium in Vancouver.  When BC Place was first built it was the largest air supported stadium in the world. When this project is completed another record will be broken, the stadium will have the largest cable-supported retractable roof in the world.  We worked closely with the design architect (Stantec Architecture) as well as PavCo.  The work included phases carried out with Dominion Construction as the General Contractor before the 2010 Winter Games and after with PCL as the General Contractor. 

Morrison Hershfield’s initial scope focused on the section of the building between the new, proprietary fabric roof system and the existing portion of the stadium.  Our role has since expanded.  Some ongoing tasks include mock-up testing of the water sealing ability of the retractable portion of the new roof, and review of an upgrade of the windows and sloped glazing that ring the stadium.  We are developing a caulking plan for the existing building and investigating and troubleshooting building performance problems that are identified during construction.    

The remake of BC Place is not limited to just the stadium. In fact, it is part of a massive redevelopment that will see the $500 million construction of two hotels, a casino and entertainment center at the west end by Paragon Development, and another commercial and retail development at the east end that has not yet been approved.  Morrison Hershfield has been named the Building Envelope Professional for the Paragon project.

For further information on BC Place see the September/October 2010 issue of Innovation magazine.