Increasing building performance through intuitive design

Postal Station B Envelope Rehabilitation & Base Building Upgrade

Formerly known as the Central Post Office, Postal Station B (PSB) is an eight-story Classified Federal Heritage Building located within the Parliamentary Precinct in Ottawa. PSB not only functions as the central postal facility for downtown Ottawa but also provides office accommodations to the Privy Council Office. At 75 years old, the building needed a comprehensive rehabilitation. In collaboration with Schoeler Heaton and Robertson Martin Architects (SHRMA), we provided full mechanical and electrical engineering services.

The proposed rehabilitation emphasized sustainability and energy efficiency—the revitalized PSB needed to minimize energy use and its carbon footprint. To achieve this, we followed a strict integrated design process, where the mechanical team closely collaborated with the SHRMA team to get an accurate picture of the existing building envelope’s thermal performance and determine the performance upgrades needed to reduce the heating and cooling loads.

In addition to improving thermal performance, the features built into the final design also resulted in increased performance of lighting power, air flow, and overall space heating energy use above standards.