METRO Vickers - Fresh Produce Distribution Centre

Responsible for the overall plan, phasing and architecture, GKC coordinated the demolition of the old facilities and new building construction to avoid any interruption in service. The project team also had to manage soil decontamination and meet a number of major technical and logistical challenges. They complied with municipal regulations and proposed innovative solutions to successfully deliver this major project on time and within budget.

The design of the distribution center, which utilizes a forklift system and includes storage mezzanines and racking with very narrow aisles, required considerable integration work. “We had to design the building from the inside out, adapting our concept to the system and not the other way around, as is often the case with this type of installation,” says Erdal Biberoglu, Project Manager at GKC. To accommodate the particularities of Witron's automated distribution system while complying with regulations and the insurer's requirements, the team had to adapt the building's automatic sprinklers and electrical system.

Due to the site's high visibility at the junction of two busy thoroughfares, the municipal authorities rejected the construction of a multi-storey parking facility. Designers therefore proposed a 320-space partially underground car park, the design of which was constrained by the presence of a high water table nearby. However, the City of Toronto did not allow the use of a drainage system due to the insufficient capacity of the municipal sewage system. “As a result, we had to design a waterproof foundation and insulation system,” explains Biberoglu, “It's a bit like putting the building in a watertight bag.”

To maintain the project's aesthetic balance, the team made sure that Phase 2 was in visual harmony with Phase 1, despite the 20-foot height difference between the two structures. To achieve this, the same colour scheme (white, grey, and red) was used, but in a different arrangement to add visual interest and variation. On the loading dock side, vertical bands placed at irregular intervals soften and punctuate the building’s appearance, both at the back and front, while the office area features a refined asymmetrical treatment combining glazed surfaces and dark grey masonry.