OLIVER BUILDING

The building had been vacant for some years and required extensive renovations in the basement due to age, water ingress, and the fact that the building had been left unheated.  The new owners wanted to reuse the building and invest in the downtown core by maintaining the original features and structure of the existing building.

 

Originally the building was used for retail stores on the main floor, with offices and small businesses on the second floor. The basement was used for storage supporting the main floor retail stores.

 

The initial concept was to provide commercial space on the main floor with residential accommodation in the basement and on the second floor. Converting old buildings to meet current building codes can be problematic, so our approach was to work with the “authority having jurisdiction” to explore the issues and provide solutions.

 

Many envelope issues with the rear of the property and the basement were discovered and needed remediation.

Following the renovation of the façade and the main floor commercial space, the client found that small business space was in more demand than residential apartments. The client chose to give the second-floor space to office use. This allowed us to maintain many more original features of the interior due to the reduced need for fire resistance rating between suites.