Innovative Construction Techniques and Details

Located in Chalk River, Ontario, the Support Facility at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Chalk River Laboratories site is one of a suite of three projects on the campus delivered with integrated project delivery. All three buildings feature a fully mass timber structure and support CNL's transformation towards a more carbon-literate campus. 

Supporting world-class research through centralized maintenance and manufacturing activities, the facility contains a two-story fully open mass timber workshop, containing a welding shop, paint booth, carpenter’s shop, a tool crib and a double-height timber wash bay overlooking the Ottawa River. In addition to the warehouse, the building also has a two-story section containing support offices, meeting rooms, and supporting amenities with numerous interior windows for visual connection between the warehouse and the office area.

Cross-laminated timber floors and roof panels supported by glulam purlins, beams, columns, and glulam bracing to resist seismic loads create a durable yet warm environment. The design offers openings above the dropped beams and between the purlins, tucking away building services such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, HVAC ducts, plumbing, electrical conduits, and sprinkler pipes.

Together with the Minwamon Building and the Science Collaboration Centre, the Support Facility shares a common attention to innovative construction techniques and details, to the natural setting, and to advanced mass timber construction — honouring the region’s deep logging/lumber history, its economic well-being, and its indigenous territorial roots.