906 Office Conversion | 80.5m | 22s | Makan Properties | Zeidler

[Albertasaurus]

• Floor plate size requirements force us into building typologies that are more expensive and allows for less experimentation.
  
  Sure, lets just lock point towers with high ratios of services and circulation on podiums into law. Then keep FAR the same, effectively reducing the amount of space available for individual units. Raise prices and limit supply due to aesthetic fixation.
  
  I thought we had got rid of that requirement. anyways - wasn't the Beltline/Centre City limit which was set at 7500 square feet 20 years ago removed because it constrained development?

  I agree, the floor plate requirements date from 2006 and are a relic of a time when Larry Beasley-era Vancouver was seen as the ideal and the negative aspects you've outlined above were not yet evident. The floor plate restrictions are more lenient in what is called the "Urban Mixed-use Areas" but still apply for residential buildings. Building separation, the other issue, crops up with a lot of applications, which suggests to me that a relook of that particular policy is also well overdue. The ARP also has minimum property line setbacks that increase as buildings get taller (minimum 12m for buildings over 12 storeys). So when you add all of those restrictions together, it can be tricky to make these sites work.
  
  With the affordable housing component, I'm betting Council overturns CPC's recommendation and approves.

 

[TooBizzy]

• 
  I agree, the floor plate requirements date from 2006 and are a relic of a time when Larry Beasley-era Vancouver was seen as the ideal and the negative aspects you've outlined above were not yet evident. The floor plate restrictions are more lenient in what is called the "Urban Mixed-use Areas" but still apply for residential buildings. Building separation, the other issue, crops up with a lot of applications, which suggests to me that a relook of that particular policy is also well overdue. The ARP also has minimum property line setbacks that increase as buildings get taller (minimum 12m for buildings over 12 storeys). So when you add all of those restrictions together, it can be tricky to make these sites work.
  
  With the affordable housing component, I'm betting Council overturns CPC's recommendation and approves.

That's a good angle of attack. I doubt they would do such a thing unless it's clearly articulated to them in that way - you vote no on this, and you lose almost 80 affordable housing units, that you don't have to pay a dime for, and that are likely to be quite spacious and great for families given the larger-than-usual floor plate.

Any structural engineers or otherwise folks qualified to comment on the feasibility of building this extension with a different floorplate? It seems obvious to me that matching the floorplate is far and away the easiest way to build it - would there be more columns setback inside the building that 12 stories could safely rest on without much extra work?

 

[TooBizzy]

I did have the thought that aligning the exterior walls would make the most sense structurally. Pulling the floors above back would likely result in them having to add a ton of columns and footings, or at least some massive transfer beams.

I think they need to follow the rules (or at least some compromise of the rules) if they want this to go ahead, otherwise just renovate and try to keep as an office building.

The office-to-residential conversion is already underway for the existing floors of the building, lol. Here's hoping that they aren't banking too heavily on the economics of this addition.

 

[heritageguy]

That's a good angle of attack. I doubt they would do such a thing unless it's clearly articulated to them in that way - you vote no on this, and you lose almost 80 affordable housing units, that you don't have to pay a dime for, and that are likely to be quite spacious and great for families given the larger-than-usual floor plate.

Any structural engineers or otherwise folks qualified to comment on the feasibility of building this extension with a different floorplate? It seems obvious to me that matching the floorplate is far and away the easiest way to build it - would there be more columns setback inside the building that 12 stories could safely rest on without much extra work?

Promising "affordable units" is a nothing burger in Calgary. Most new rental buildings are classifying 25% of units as affordable through MLI Select to get 100 points. Affordable rent is $1738 which is basically market for small 1 beds.

I'm surprised they are going through the headache and cost to try and add floors on this project. If this was my project i would have done what every other office conversion in the city has done - convert the structure and not try and add floors.