Enhancing marine safety through infrastructure response capabilities

Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue Stations

Reliable and durable equipment is an absolute must for the Canadian Coast Guard, including the structures housing two Search and Rescue (SAR) Stations on the rugged Newfoundland coast. Designing high-performance buildings to withstand coastal climates is challenging. However, with our innovative architectural and engineering design, these stations are examples of what’s possible.

Designed as prototypes for the Government of Canada under its Oceans Protection Plan, each SAR station includes a two-story timber-framed operations building with crew accommodations, a garage with workshop space for the station’s fast rescue craft, a wharf, and a slipway. The buildings feature high-performance envelopes and energy-efficient HVAC and lighting systems. The orientation of the main operations building leverages natural daylight opportunities, and passive ventilation is used along with light roof coverings to decrease dependence on active cooling. The SAR stations include some of the first grid-tied net metering systems in the province and generate 15kW of solar power on-site. The Old Perlican SAR Station project is complete and has achieved LEED v4 Gold certification, exceeding our client's mandate of LEED v4 Silver certification. Certification for the Twillingate station is ongoing.

As the prime consultant, our multidisciplinary design team was involved from pre-design through to construction documents, tendering support, and contract administration. Construction was phased over two fully-coordinated contract packages—one for rough grading/wharf/marine—and the other for the buildings and site development. We’re proud to have played a role in keeping Canada’s Coast Guard ready to respond to marine emergencies.