Brock University's Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts

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Located on a site adjacent to a new performing arts centre, also built by Bird, the Brock University project involved the adaptive re-use of a former 19th century textile mill on St. Paul Street, the Canada Hair Cloth building, as well as the renovation of an adjacent warehouse space. The project scope included the construction of a 2,300 m2 addition to house a theatre with retractable seating, art gallery, lobby space, study areas, and dressing rooms. The repurposing of the existing five-storey facility required installation of new mechanical and electrical systems, and a clear span to be created on the building’s fourth floor for painting and drawing rooms. Life safety systems were upgraded and acoustic separations were installed. The Bird team reclaimed the existing brick façade, wood flooring, pressed tin ceiling tiles, and fire doors to showcase the building’s heritage. Bird provided over $2 million in cost savings to the client to maintain the project’s budget. This included more than two months of value engineering with revisions to the original helical pile system to a rammed aggregate pier system to ensure the building’s structural integrity would be maintained by modifying soils surrounding the piers, and small modifications such as architectural finishes.

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