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First Ontario PPP courthouse heritage renovation completed
$250 million Elgin County project designed to achieve LEED Silver standards
The $250 million Elgin County Courthouse in St.
Thomas, Ontario has opened. NORR designed the three-
storey building in close collaboration with heritage archi-
tects Fournier Gersovitz Moss Drolet et Associés
Architectes (FGMDA). EllisDon operated as general con-
tactor for the project. The Infrastructure Ontario public-
private partnership project (PPP), the first of its kind for a
heritage renovation, includes design, construction, fi-
nancing and maintenance.
Construction began in June 2011 on the site of the his-
toric Elgin County Courthouse, originally built in 1853. The
work consolidated the Superior Court of Justice and On-
tario Court of Justice, formerly in separate locations, to
modernize the courthouse and provide better accessibil-
ity. The building has eight courtrooms and three confer-
ence settlement rooms. A heritage courtroom has been
maintained from the original building.
The north and west elevations, dome and copper roof
and masonry and sculptural detailing from the original
structure have also been conserved and restored.
A modern addition connects the heritage courthouse
and a former Land Registry Office which has also been
refurbished. The addition adds 135,000 sq. ft. of new
space. David Clusiau, NORR’s senior principal, architectural
design, says the challenges in maintaining and incorpo-
rating the old with the new were numerous but worth the
effort. “We had to insert modern mechanical systems and
technology into the heritage building in as invisible and
unobtrusive a manner as possible,” he said. “We also
needed to bring the heritage building up to standard with
regard to new security processes and accessibility re-
quirements.” The design also needed to accommodate the different
34 – Summer 2014 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
circulation/access requirements for the public, accused,
and judicial officials.
Clusiau said the design team created an addition to
enhance the original buildings, supporting and compli-
menting heritage elements, while meeting LEED Silver
standards. He says the design has achieved all of these goals in
a way that is interesting and engaging. “Aside from the
public atrium at the heart of the new addition and the as-
sociated public circulation system that provides views
out to the surrounding landscape and adjacent heritage
courthouse, one of the interesting elements of the proj-
ects is the inclusion of a programme of heritage plaques
around the site,” he said. “The multiple storey one in the
main atrium as well as the display case of historical arti-
facts that all add another layer of interest onto the already
architectural layered site.”
The design needed to be flexible, as the project will
serve the community for at least three decades. Clusiau
says this has been achieved through the addition of two
additional courtrooms on the third floor and adaptations
to the existing courtrooms.
“We made modifications to the millwork, creating a
two-sided crest that can be flipped for use by either the
Ontario or Superior Court as needed.”
Sight N Sound Design, a design build audio visual con-
sultant, installed the audio visual systems, including evi-
dence presentation, voice enhancement, audio
recording, video conferencing, remote testimony facili-
ties, and control systems.
Sight N Sound president Ken Lewis says his company
specializes in complex projects. Before this project, they
were also involved with the Waterloo Courthouse and the
Quinte Courthouse. “One element that is unique to these
courthouses is the integration of legacy video and the
new digital format into courtroom evidence presentation