Amazon Barrhaven - Fulfilment Centre

©Eloa Defly

Location Ottawa, ON
Area 2,85 miliion sq. ft.
Status Completed, 2021

The largest centre of its kind in Canada

As part of its Canadian expansion, Amazon entrusted GKC with the design and construction management of a new order fulfilment centre in Barrhaven, Ontario. At the time of its construction in 2021, the five-storey, 2.85 million sq. ft. building is the largest of its kind.

Project team

Normand Côté

OAQ, OAA, NSAA, AIBC, LEED AP

Partner

Normand Côté
Martin Bouchard

Technical Director

©Eloa Defly

Balancing design and productivity on a tight schedule

“One of the project’s main challenges was to complete the work in 14 months, which is an ambitious deadline for a build of this size and complexity,” explains Normand Côté, Project Director and Senior Partner at GKC. In addition, due to municipal and CitiGate business park requirements, particular attention had to be paid to the exterior design to help the facility blend into its natural surroundings.

©Eloa Defly

Echoing the surrounding landscape

The project team drew inspiration from the region’s naturally stratified rock, designing façades with alternating light and dark grey stripes resting on a dark precast concrete base reminiscent of the underlying bedrock. To soften the building's substantial volume, stairwells and elevator shafts were integrated into glazed vertical projections, bringing light and transparency to interior spaces without compromising operational efficiency.

A coordinated, rigorous approach

To be able to process hundreds of thousands of orders every day, the centre is equipped with an extensive network of conveyors and robots. These systems had to be integrated with precision, “down to the last centimetre,” explains Côté. This complexity was met with confidence thanks to the team’s experience in distribution centre design and their expertise in coordinating a wide range of stakeholders.

For several years now, Amazon has called on GKC to design and build fulfilment and sorting centres in Canada. We see this as a mark of confidence and recognition of our ability to find solutions quickly, integrate change requests on tight timelines and act as orchestra conductor to avoid errors and delays.

Normand Côté OAQ, OAA, NSAA, AIBC, LEED AP

Partner

Sustainability first

The Barrhaven fulfilment centre incorporates a range of sustainable design strategies, including white roofs to minimize urban heat islands, energy recovery ventilators, high-efficiency HVAC systems, and low-flow fixtures to reduce water consumption. Environmental consideration also extends to the exterior, with night-sky-friendly lighting, shaded parking areas, and native vegetation.

Human-scale landscaping

Landscaping was given particular attention: a wide buffer of existing woodland and a natural berm help visually shield the building from nearby Highway 416, while planted strips with pedestrian pathways break up the parking areas, making the site more welcoming and providing extra shade. Landscaping elements at access points mimic natural outcrops of stratified rock to strengthen the connection to the local geology.

Amazon and GKC: a lasting relationship

Since 2021, GKC has overseen the construction of seven Amazon fulfilment and sorting centres, including those in Côteau-du-Lac, Quebec (2021), Whitby, Ontario (2022) and St. Thomas, Ontario (2023).