Qualicum Beach Fire Hall 5 years on

Half a decade since Qualicum Beach Fire Hall was completed, Vancouver Island-based photographer Bob Matheson returned to capture how the landscape surrounding the building has changed and developed since he photographed the facility nearly five years ago. The fire hall, completed in 2015, incorporated a number of sustainability measures including a 72% reduction in energy usage.

The building and site design of the two-story, 18,000 square foot fire hall is based upon providing the Town of Qualicum Beach and the Qualicum Beach Fire Department with a facility that affords excellent response and suppression coverage for the area, resulting in shortened emergency response times within the community.

A key goal of the project encompassed maximizing the incorporation of green building sustainability measures where possible and reducing energy usage. In order to achieve this and meet the programmatic requirements of the Fire Department, the project shadowed a LEED®-NC Silver rating.

Following its completion and occupancy, the new fire hall achieved an FCM-GMF grant of $464,467 for accomplishing a significant 72% reduction in energy usage. Additionally, Solid Mass Timber was integrated into the post-disaster building – making the fire hall the first project to use LVL panels in a post-disaster building in western Canada.

The facility includes eight truck bays (four tandem drive through bays), a kitchen, meeting room, day room and quarters for 40 career and volunteer firefighters. The large training room is also designed to successfully divide into two functional rooms and is used as an integral part of the training system for the fire hall and the back up Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).

Find out more about the project https://jdarch.ca/project/qualicum-beach-fire-hall/