like this. Our design though created two separate pods, set like bookends and separated through a long ‘street- like corridor’ that is wide and flooded with daylight.” Support services will be located along this connecting hallway. The typical living units have cells arranged in blocks of 20, with 10 on the ground floor and 10 on an upper mezzanine. The two are connected by stairs and the day- rooms outside the cells feature skylights to make the spaces light and airy. Control rooms outside the living units have good lines of vision and monitoring equip- ment to assist with supervision of the living areas and dayroom spaces. While outdoor exercise fields are not required be- cause of inmates’ relatively short visits, the project has been designed with high-walled exterior airing courts di- rectly off the housing units at the building’s corners. Staff can use a small dining area with windows to the outdoors and an outdoor patio and have a quiet room to de-stress. The building has been designed to meet LEED Silver certification through an energy-efficient envelope, mate- rial selection and the use of 48 geothermal wells. Dobbs says early testing shows the site’s aquifers are good, which in turn should provide good heat flow. “The chal- lenge with a facility like this in meeting LEED criteria is that security and safety are of the utmost importance,” says Dobbs. “We must also consider this is a 24/7 facility with a lot of hard use.” The design also uses in-floor slab radiant heating sys- tems that cannot be damaged by occupants. The exten- sive use of concrete in the walls, in the 8 in. thick floor slabs, and the concrete blocks benefit the energy profile because of its thermal capacity. The building is expected to beat early energy model- ing by about 40 per cent. A cold and stormy winter slowed construction but the project is progressing well and is expected to be com- pleted by late 2014. The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Fall 2013 – 17 ATLANTIC CANADA issue when you’re dealing with hard surfaces like these,” says Dobbs. “To eliminate some of the echoing we cre- ated an acoustic deck over the living units, which have perforated metal with insulation to absorb the sound. For the first time we also used this technology in the walls, installing heavy gauge perforated metal with sound ab- sorption insulation.” Dobbs says this acoustic treatment supports the Jus- tice Department’s model of direct supervision (with in- mates and officers mingling). This is intended to promote rehabilitation through a more normalized, safer and secure environment. The designers didn’t attempt to disguise the facility’s purpose, but efforts were made to give it an institutional yet comfortable look with the addition of red paint to brighten the exterior. “This is a clearly a secure facility and in this remote location, not something people will stumble upon not knowing what it is,” Kelly said. Dobbs says arrangements were made with the local municipality and utilities to provide water, sewer and power. “We looked at other possibilities including self- contained on-site options but this made the most sense.” With a potential population of 200, plus 100 staff, the prison will use much water and produce a significant amount of effluent so the water utility needed to up- grade the size of services nearer the site. “The building sits on a hill relative to the street,” says Kelly. “There is quite a change in elevation so the munic- ipality will create a booster station to provide the neces- sary water pressure at the building location at the top of the hill.” A large emergency back-up power generator and un- interruptible power supplies (UPS) will support critical systems including computers, CCTV (closed-circuit tele- vision) cameras and door controls. Dobbs says the biggest challenge in designing a cor- rectional institution is allowing for natural light. “It’s nor- mal to see cells grouped into large pod units in a facility