The Heartland Business Community Parking Garage was undertaken for Orlando Corporation, developers of this large office complex in Mississauga for a new multilevel precast concrete parking structure as part of Orlando's new Heartland Business Community.

The new Business Centre is Mississauga's largest multi-tenant office building comprising 480,000 square feet. The parking garage largely serves the office building at 55 Standish Court.

The four level parking garage comprises approximately 55,700 m2 (600,000 sf) and includes parking spaces for 1,750 vehicles in Phase 1, with allowance for future expansion of an additional 627 spaces.

Located around the perimeter of the garage are stairwells with large glazed panels at their exterior faces. This aids in pedestrian security and allows natural light to enter the stairwells. Vehicles enter and exit the garage from four locations, and access each level with two sloped parking floors.
Construction was fast, with precast erection time of only nine weeks.

The Project was awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Architectural Precast Concrete Design at the 2001 Ontario Concrete Awards.

Structural Precast Concrete
The parking garage was constructed using precast concrete elements except for footings and stairwell cores, constructed of reinforced, cast-in-place concrete.
The precast concrete double tee floor slabs were finished with a 75 to 150 mm (3" to 6") thick reinforced concrete topping and waterproofing system.

Exterior spandrels were buff coloured precast concrete with a light sandblast finish to match the existing office tower cladding.

The precast contractor was instrumental in providing input to the owner's design team during the design process. Many of the precast concrete details used in the final construction were previously developed and used on previous projects.

The precast contractor was also awarded the contract by the owner to supply and erect the precast concrete elements for the structure, and ensured the garage was constructed to the high standards for which this company is known.

Credits:
Owner: Orlando Corporation
Functional Planning: LEA Consulting Ltd.
Preliminary and Final Structural Design: LEA Consulting Ltd.
Construction Review: LEA Consulting Ltd.
Precast Contractor: Pre-Con Inc.
Construction Value: $9.5 Million ±
Construction Time: 9 weeks (structural precast frame)