Adelaide Wastewater Treatment Plant

OWNER: City of London
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: McClean Taylor
ENGINEER ON RECORD: WSP, Thornhill ON

The Adelaide Wastewater Treatment Plant plays a crucial role in treating approximately 37,000 cubic meters of water/sewage wastewater for the City of London.  

The facility receives wastewater from various sources by gravity and treats it before discharge into the Thames River. The plant is situated in low-lying areas adjacent to the river, and many of the critical treatment plant components are within the floodplain. Unfortunately, climate change has led to more frequent and severe flooding and wet weather events, putting the plant’s equipment and infrastructure at risk.

To address this issue, Design Concrete collaborated closely with the City of London and WSP to design and construct a precast Easi-Span building to protect the plant’s equipment. The team was involved throughout the planning and design process to support and ensure seamless delivery, installation, and building completion.

“Through our integrative design process, we worked closely with the City of London and WSP to develop a design, select a size and options to best meet the needs of the project, including the selection of a smooth, red brick pattern on the top portion of the walls, which then transitioned to an ashlar pattern bottom,” explained Gina Lathan, Sales, Design Concrete.

The red coordinated with the historic Adelaide Underpass landmark.

EASI-SPAN BUILDINGS FOR WATER & WASTE TREATMENT BUILDINGS

To gain approval from the City, aesthetics were prioritized in the design. Past projects helped to convey this. The City required prior approval for both types of walls. DCI provided detailed engineered and stamped SK drawings of the walls and included photographs of similar installations from previous projects.

The Easi-Span building for this project measured 30’ wide x 30’ long, a large enough footprint to house important monitoring, electrical and mechanical equipment for the pump station.

A single-sourced structure, the Easi-Span building eliminated involvement of multiple trades or vendors such as masons, steelworkers, roofing contractors, or painters. A complete precast building also ensures the longevity of the building as compared to other material types with much shorter lifespans.  

The City’s goal of securing the equipment was met. Where Precast offered a level of security during severe weather events, offering a watertight building envelope that protect against strong windstorms or flooding. Additionally, our building designs offer a blast and ballistic protection, tested to UL-752/Test Method 5. The building is not only stronger, but limits the impacts of possible theft or vandalism. Our buildings are more resilient for long-term operations.

INSTALLATION WITH CHALLENGING ACCESS

Due to the site’s restrictive nature, having precast modular pieces delivered to site and ready to assemble, was the preferred construction method. Not only did it drastically reduce the on-site traffic, but the turnaround time pf the building walls and roof sections were erected in a matter of days instead of weeks.

  • Day 1: Precast Walls Erected
  • Day 2: Precast Roof Landed
  • Day 3 & 4: Interior & Exterior Caulking completed and roof joints installed
  • Day 5: Doors installed
  • Days 6-10: Interior insulation package installed and building completed.

Other trades could then begin to their scopes earlier, with many of the hook ups already in place.

Link to more info: https://precastbuildings.com/markets/water-and-waste