Britco Head Office

Additional Info

Award Winner : Metric Modular

Architectural Excellence : Britco’s previous office was 6,500 sf with 23 private offices, however, it was not spacious. The complex to be renovated was just over 8,000 sf with mainly open space and only 6 private offices so, although we needed to create offices for at least 29 people, we did not want to lose the feeling of spaciousness that the office conveyed.

Twelve new private offices were created around the perimeter, adding exterior windows and 3’ wide floor to ceiling sidelights to the interior office doors to maximize natural light and allow views from the main office interior to the outside. Thirteen 9’x 10’ open offices were designed for the central open space using a 5-1/2’ high fabric panel system with custom millwork.

The building sits on the northwest corner of 10 acres of land in a mainly agricultural area. A landscaped earthen berm around the perimeter of the property provides screening and the building was set 30% off axis to create more visual interest on the approach.

Cost Energy Effectiveness : This building represents a prime example of the sustainability of factory-built relocatable modular buildings. Eleven years ago, this 13,000 sf building was designed to serve as a call centre. Today, it has been disassembled, relocated, reassembled, renovated and reconfigured into two separate office complexes, one 8,000 sf serves as Britco’s head office and another 5,000 sf as a project office for a road builder.

Almost all of the renovation and reconfiguration of the office interior including lighting, sprinkler and mechanical systems, was done with the complex assembled on its foundation. This sped up the work, made it easier to work, and saved costs. The old roof top units were changed from gas to electric heat pumps when it was discovered that it would be five times the cost to service the site with natural gas.

This eleven year old building has been given a complete makeover at about 50% of the cost of building new and will serve our needs for many years.

Occupied Date : 12/7/2005

Production Start Date : 9/19/2005

Project Location City : Langley

Project Location State Name : BC

Technical Innovation : An additional rooftop HVAC unit was added to the four existing units to provide 5 distinct zones plus a smaller sixth unit was added specifically for the computer room. The crawl space under the office was used to run cable and water and sewer lines.

When the original complex was split to create the two new offices, part of the makeover was the addition of an exterior wall to close each complex. Exterior siding, fascia details, doors, windows and interior finish were all replicated to match the original.

Total Square Feet : 8400