King George Corporate Centre Renovation

Synergistix delivered the work under a stipulated-price general contract against complete permit drawings, so the landlord had one price, one contract and one accountable party before anything was demolished. The pre-award period was spent testing the documents against the building as it actually was: existing conditions surveys, a hazardous materials survey before any demolition scope was priced, confirmation of what the building rules required after hours, and a written list of the allowances and assumptions carried in the sum.

Phasing that treats the tenants as the fixed point

The programme was built around tenant operations rather than around trade convenience. Noisy and disruptive work went into evenings and weekends. Work that could proceed quietly behind hoarding continued during the day. The building never lost a compliant path of travel from the street to the elevators, and it never lost accessible washroom provision on a served floor, because each washroom group was taken in turn with the alternates kept in service and clearly directed.

1. 01Survey existing conditions and confirm hazardous materials status before pricing any demolition.
2. 02Agree noise windows, service elevator bookings, loading access and after-hours security procedures with the property manager in writing.
3. 03Erect dust-tight hoarding with a maintained, code-compliant path of travel and clear temporary wayfinding.
4. 04Renovate washroom groups in sequence so alternates remain open and accessible on every served floor.
5. 05Schedule water, power and life-safety isolations into announced windows with same-day restoration.
6. 06Run finishing trades after hours and hand the space back clean and usable before the next business day.
7. 07Walk each completed area with the property manager and close deficiencies before moving to the next phase.

Protecting the parts of the building that were not being renovated

Most of the damage risk in an occupied renovation sits outside the work area. Elevator cabs, corridors, existing flooring and glazing were protected before material moved through them. Dust-tight hoarding with negative air kept demolition and grinding out of tenant space, and cleaning ran at the end of every shift rather than at the end of every phase. Sprinkler and fire alarm work was scheduled with the monitoring company and the property manager, with isolation and restoration recorded the same day so the building never sat overnight with a life-safety system out of service.

Documentation the property manager could file

Certificates of insurance naming the required additional insureds, WorkSafeBC clearance confirmation for the British Columbia operation and subcontractor coverage records were issued before mobilization, in the format the landlord’s own reporting already used. The site ran under a project-specific safety plan built on COR-certified practice. Tenant notices went out through the property manager on the agreed notice period, and a single point of contact answered for schedule, access and complaints for the duration of the work. Change was handled with the same discipline. Concealed conditions behind finishes in an older building are a normal finding rather than an emergency, so each one was documented, priced and approved before the work proceeded, with the change log carrying cost and schedule impact together.

The lobby, elevator lobbies, corridors and washroom groups were modernized and returned to service phase by phase, with the building occupied and trading every business day of the programme. No tenant was required to close, no rent abatement claim arose from the construction, and each phase was handed back clean and usable before the next business morning.

• Accessible path of travel and accessible washroom provision maintained on every served floor throughout the work
• Life-safety isolations announced, recorded and restored the same day, with no overnight outages
• Barrier-free upgrades completed to the permitted design and signed off by the authority having jurisdiction
• As-built drawings, warranties, permit sign-offs and finish schedules issued to the property manager at closeout

Common-area modernization is a leasing instrument as much as a capital repair. The lobby is what a prospective tenant sees first and what an existing tenant walks through several times a day, and the washrooms are the part of a building occupants judge hardest. Delivering both without interrupting the operating building is the part that is difficult, and it is the part that decides whether an owner repeats the exercise on the rest of the portfolio.