Gage Park Conservatory | Hamilton, Ontario
Services
Project Value
$4,200,000
Project Overview
When plants began to outgrow the former Gage Park Conservatory, the City of Hamilton embarked on the rehabilitation and expansion of the tropical greenhouse and MTE was retained to provide civil and structural engineering services in support of the project.
Our civil engineering team developed the detailed site grading, servicing, stormwater management design, as well as provided construction inspection and final certification. Our structural group’s scope of work on this project included a preliminary structural design, structural design development, the review of shop drawings and the general review of construction and as-built drawings.
The fully accessible conservatory houses a large collection of tropical plants, as well as a waterfall which will accommodate fish and turtles. The approximately 9,300 ft.2 revitalized building is equipped with a fully automated irrigation system and has been constructed with an accompanying limousine and bus drop-off, in addition to a main entrance pathway from the parking lot.
MTE’s Involvement
When it came to water servicing the proposed site, an existing 150mm watermain on site along with the addition of a service connection allowed us to service the sprinkler system, greenhouse operations and domestic demands for both the existing and new buildings. The connecting watermain was installed and routed around the conservatory and service the new building, though the mechanical room, for domestic and green house operations
Our stormwater management plan involved the addition of catch basins and area drains around the proposed building to pick up surface drainage, as well as a storm sewer system to carry stormwater of minor storm events from these areas. We were also able to incorporate a cistern to capture runoff from a portion of the proposed building rooftop to harvest rain water for watering the many tropical plants inside the rehabilitated conservatory.
Additionally, our team designed the structure’s tropical garden area to be fully glazed utilizing a pre-engineering greenhouse system for the roof and walls supported by glulam timber arches. The stage and education area consists of pre-cast concrete walls and pre-cast concrete roof / floor slabs. The expanded structure also includes a connection to the existing Gage Park Greenhouse facility.
