Humber College Parking Structure

Humber College students gleefully welcomed the opening of a brand new, state-of-the-art parking garage on the North Campus in Toronto. The seven-story structure provides 28,000 square meters of parking area with 1,000 car spaces and 700 square meters of bike storage, retail, office, and ancillary space. The garage was built to replace and improve upon the surface lot that was lost with the building of the new Centre for Technology and Innovation.

All steel components of the main and secondary structure as well as miscellaneous metals were hot-dip galvanized to secure the long-term durability of the building and low maintenance requirement.

During the planning stage, Humber College sought out a design-build solution for the parking garage. It was important to the college the contractor was able to deliver key building traits including energy efficiency, low capital cost, low maintenance cost, and be environmentally responsible. They envisioned their design to be long-lasting, safe, secure, and user-friendly, with transparency and security built in, including no columns in the design. However, the wish-list didn’t stop there, Humber College required the architecture of the building to blend in to the surroundings, and they also sought to generate energy from the building, making it a power station for the college.

Newton Group Ltd., an original building systems manufacturer and design build general contracting company, was confident they could deliver on the project requirements and were awarded the contract. They used the CANADACAR Parking System, a steel structured building tailor made for parking with an ultra-high-performance concrete deck system. The steel and concrete work in synergy to secure the longevity, reduce construction height, and lower maintenance of the building. All steel components of the main and secondary structure as well as miscellaneous metals were hot-dip galvanized to secure the long-term durability of the building and low maintenance requirement. The aluminum fin façade and the slender galvanized steel structure of the system is visually stunning while also blending in to the surroundings seamlessly. To generate energy, a 700 KW DC solar photovoltaic energy generation system was installed.

Newton Group Ltd. worked in tandem with the hot-dip galvanizer to ensure the shipment of galvanized steel was delivered on schedule. The entire project was turnkey including site demolition and development, landscaping, construction and finishing of the building including the façade plus all design and consulting requirements were carried out under one contract.

The galvanizer was an intricate part of the team, scheduling and processing the steel at their facility to provide just-in-time delivery to the construction site. The work proceeded seamlessly with zero issues. Galvanized steel makes this style of parking structure possible, adding more parking space without increasing the building footprint. The durable corrosion protection will keep maintenance costs low for the college over the long term.