The Airside Operations Building (AOB) Project includes 26,614 square meter of apron/ roadway, and 8,626 square meter of net building area. Located in the airfield to the west of the Terminal Buildings, it is an operations complex that consolidates critical YVR functions for Emergency Response, Airside Safety, and Airfield Maintenance. The project is comprised of a new main building that includes a Fire Hall for airfield emergency response, Vehicle Maintenance Bays, Storage and Staging for Airfield Maintenance, Offices and Support spaces. A second Airfield Materials Storage Building provides facilities for Vehicle Wash Bay, Fuelling Complex, and Materials Storage. The project's airside location at the heart of YVR 24-hour operation introduced unique design requirements and challenges, including:
• A wide range of civil services, gas line, power and communication duct banks had to be extended to the un-serviced site largely via directional drilling across the expanse of the airfield and major taxiways
• A new electrical room and associated renovations for cable routing were required at the International Terminal Building to facilitate routing of power to the AOB;
• Construction on land fill to meet the most stringent of post-disaster structural seismic requirements for the main AOB Operations Building
• Design for 72-hour post disaster operations at the AOB including full back-up power generation and rainwater storage; and
• A design requirement that the building functional planning and design be developed to support the stringent emergency response times required for ERS personnel during emergency events. This included the development of unique design solutions for the ERS vehicle bays and associated systems for water, foam and chemical reloading of ERS vehicles.