The Old Fire Hall Went for a Drive
clearing the way for the Sauder Tower
UBC’s heritage fire hall has been saved from the wrecker’s ball. Finding itself in the way of the Faculty of Commerce’s new eleven story tower the fire hall had to go. It took some time, and it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars (actually millions: four and a half million) to move and repurpose. The fire hall has been cut into three, moved to an on campus storage site, and later will be brought into the St John’s student housing redevelopment. This story is about how and why it’s being kept.
How did we get here?
Earlier this fall I sat down with Matthew Roddis Co-Director Planning and Design, at the Loafe in the Sauder School of Business to talk heritage planning on campus. I wanted to learn about how the fire hall came to be saved from the wrecker’s ball.
In a previous story I outlined the cultural heritage values of the old fire hall (built in 1926). The fire hall and the now demolished power house found themselves in the way of the Faculty of Commerce’s eleven story tower expansion. Initial plans had attempted to retain both fire hall and power house, but that didn’t last long into the planning process. Also removed from the plan was a childcare centre which didn’t fit the Faculty of Commerce’s building program (subsequently shifted down the street to Orchard Commons). This conversation with Matthew was focussed on the thinking behind moving and repurposing the old fire hall.
Matthew explained the process involved finding a place to store, and a future use, for the Firehall. It is important to find, Matthew said, a final site:
“that respects the heritage resource values [of] and ensures a viable future [for the fire hall]. There’s a lot of support to find a home for the Firehall. The policy for heritage evaluation is laid out in the Vancouver Campus Plan. Specifically, Policy 43 identifies heritage listed resources ‘that embody cultural meaning to the campus community that shall be retained where viable. Viability is determined by comparing the costs, functionality, campus fit and ecological and heritage impacts of retention versus replacement’.”
Matthew described the difficulties of finding a suitable storage place on campus.
There are“not many places on campus [to put a building like this]. There are a lot of underground utilities, land is scarce. We needed to land a building like this in a way that doesn’t prevent a bigger site from being developed.”
Finding a place to store the fire hall for two to three years was just a start. Figuring out where to place it permanently was more involved.
The fire hall needed “a good home” Matthew said.
“[We] needed to find a program, something to be housed in it. The timing worked well with the expansion of St. John’s. The fire hall would fit within the amenities on site. It was a great opportunity. The fire hall would be the heart of of residence community.”
I wondered about what exact heritage value was being preserved given the building had been dissected and would be completely rebuilt from the insides. How would the old design of the fire hall fit within the contemporary architecture of the present?
Matthew said it’s not uncommon for this kind of heritage preservation to keep the facade or shell of an older building while totally repurposing the interior. “The idea within the design of the whole precinct is to look for a way to make this special.”
How was it moved?
John Metres, Associate VP-Facilities, shared the following outline of the move and related protocols.
Once the decision was made by UBC Campus & Community Planning and UBC Facilities to relocate the Old Fire Hall, we engaged, through our Construction Manager, BC’s preeminent specialists in building relocations Nickel Bro’s.
Nickel Bro’s are experts in Heritage Building Relocations and have relocated buildings as old as 200 years, with everything from Victorian masterpieces, old balloon-framed barns, stone or brick castles, to small, yet treasured neighborhood bungalows.
Nickel Bro’s has developed the below methodology, to relocate the Old Fire Hall from its current location at West Mall to a temporary site where the Old Fire Hall components will be stored until their final location within the Lower Mall Precinct Student Housing redevelopment at St. John’s College is confirmed by UBC Campus & Community Planning and UBC Facilities.
Hazardous Material Abatement - Removal of all identified hazardous material is to occur to make the space safe for further work to occur prior to partitioning the building for relocation.
Services Disconnect - Disconnecting the water, power, and communication lines to make the building safe and ensure services are properly terminated prior to partitioning the building for relocation.
Selective Demolition – Portions of the building that are later additions and not part of the original heritage structure are selectively demolished. The materials will then be salvaged for either re-use or recycling where possible.
Partitioning of the Structure – The primary structure is then supported and partitioned into three main sections: the single storey north wing, the two-storey central section with tower and the single storey southern wing.
Installation of Structural Support and Jack System – Custom bracing and frames are then fitted to the structure to enable the structure to be lifted from the concrete foundations. Jacks are then placed underneath the structure to lift this to a height where a trailer can be placed underneath the building before the structure is lowered onto the back of the trailer, which will then be connected to a truck for transportation to the temporary storage site.
Route Preparation – Pre-surveys have been carried out to identify potential obstructions along the relocation route. Specialist arborists, electricians and signage contractors will trim tree’s and temporarily remove any light poles and signs that would obstruct the Old Fire Hall on its route to the temporary storage site.
Transportation – Once obstructions are cleared and at a time where there is low pedestrian and vehicular traffic on campus, the trucks will move the Old Fire Hall. The larger two storey portion will be moved first and the smaller one storey sections will follow in procession to the temporary storage site. Removed lights and signs are then reinstated once the Old Fire Hall has moved past these obstructions.
Arrival at Temporary Storage Site - Once the sections arrive at site the trucks will park the trailers with the Old Fire Hall sections where these will remain on the trailers.
Securing the Structure and Weather Protection – Once the trailers are parked, plywood hoardings will cover up any exposed opening to secure the three portions of the Old Fire Hall. The three sections of the Old Fire Hall will then be shrink wrapped in a weather protective poly to minimise any degradation to the building components.
Relocation to Final Location – The relocation to the Old Fire Hall’s final location will occur once a final site at the St. John’s College redevelopment is confirmed. Work to place reconnect and restore the three portions will be carried out as a separate portion of work.
We are currently planning to use the gravel lot immediately to the east of the Life Sciences Centre off Agronomy Road as the temporary storage site. The Old Fire Hall will stay there until it is ready to be placed at the St. John’s College redevelopment site. I would estimate that to be in early 2028 but the exact timing will depend on construction sequencing for the student housing project which is still to be determined. How it will be integrated into the St. John’s site will be determined through the design process which is just commencing now. The initial intention is to use the Old Fire Hall as student amenity space but this too will be explored through the design process.
The art studios that were in the Old Fire Hall have been temporarily relocated to swing space in the Wesbrook Building. We are working with the Faculty of Arts on a separate project to develop a permanent home for these studios.
The cost to do all of this is about 4.5 million dollars.
Three million covers the initial move to the temporary storage site and the final move to the new student housing site at St John College. The Sauder School of Business is funding this cost.
Student Housing & Community Services will fund the interior fit-out for the end use within the St. John College student housing development. This is estimated to be on the order of $1.5 million.
These two components of the move are seen as two separate projects: the move and relocation, and; the repurposing and integration into St. John’s college upscaling to 1500 student beds.
As much as I see the value of retaining this iconic building, I do find it hard to imagine it being anything more than a facade once incorporated into the new student housing project. When I visited the artists using it as a studio before it was moved it felt lived in and cared for. The traces of the people who worked in the building as a fire hall were everywhere to be seen. There was a charm in it’s location and scale. It was the presence of its past and people that gave the fire hall its sense of place. One can only trust that in it’s new form it will develop this again as new stories are written within its walls.
Thanks for sending this. I have been watching the Old Fire Hall but missed the move by Nickel Bros. A rare example of UBC preserving a bit of architectural heritage!