New head office for Manitoba Hydro will make its mark in downtown Winnipeg

Manitoba Hydro’s design team is still working out the final design for its new head office building in the heart of downtown Winnipeg.
Located on a city block on the south side of Portage Avenue west of Main, between Carlton and Edmonton Streets, the large building is designed to be 65,030 square metres and was intended to house approximately 1,800 employees. .
A design team was selected early last year and the public was invited to comment on three different proposed schemes. The final scheme has not been announced, but all three proposals showed a building of more than 24 storeys and with a wide profile. Naturally, whatever scheme is selected, the building is intended to be a showcase of energy efficiency.
The integrated design team includes several consulting engineering firms. Electrical and mechanical engineers are Earth Tech of Winnipeg (Alan Astanas, P.Eng.) with Transsolar Energietecknik of Stuttgart, Germany contributing to the energy engineering. Structural engineers are Crosier Kilgour & Partners of Winnipeg (Tom Malkiewicz, P.Eng.) and Yolles Partnership of Toronto. Architects are KPMB of Toronto and Smith Carter of Winnipeg.
Other consultants include Wardrop Engineering (civil), UMA and Dyregrov Consultants (geotechnical), and ND Lea Engineers (traffic, access and parking).
Existing low-rise buildings on the site are being deconstructed and materials salvaged as much as possible.
Manitoba Hydro agreed to construct an office building of at least 400,000 square feet in downtown Winnipeg as part of its agreement to purchase Winnipeg Hydro.