Stantec Tower Exterior

Supporting sustainable & human-centric building designs

Systemair supplies high-efficiency inline duct fans to Sky Residences in Stantec Tower, a 66-floor LEED Gold Certified skyscraper in the heart of Edmonton, Alberta in Canada

Stantec Tower, Canada

Compliant with LEED Gold Certification’s rigid parameters

Engineering experts behind Stantec Tower placed a strong emphasis on indoor environmental quality, material and resources, energy efficiency, water conservation and sustainable site design.

Adaptable to interior design

The fans’ compact size allowed them to fit in the shallow ceiling space, offering design flexibility and ensuring the apartments maintain their modern and luxurious layout.  

High-efficiency equipment helps meet demand

The fans, controlled via a speed controller, allowed airflow to match demand in various operating modes, lowering operating costs.

Americas
2021
Commercial, Residential
Owner/Developer

D-IG Edmonton Lux S.a.r.l.

Consultants

Stantec Consulting Ltd.

Facility Manager

Canderel Management (West) Inc.

Contractor/Builder 

PCL Construction Management Inc.

Stantec Tower, Canada. Exterior view.

Standing out in the skyline

The Stantec Tower is a 66-floor LEED Gold Certified skyscraper offering dual commercial and residential uses in the heart of Alberta in Canada. As the tallest building west of Toronto, the Tower stands out in Edmonton’s vibrant skyline within the thriving ICE District, set to be the largest mixed-use sports and entertainment district in Canada.

The bottom floor of the tower houses several offices, including the global headquarters for Stantec, where 1,000 Stantec employees work. Floors 30 to 66 feature Sky Residences, comprising luxury residential overlooking the North Saskatchewan River a few city blocks away.

Meeting designed airflows

As the tallest building in Western Canada, the Stantec Tower's most significant challenge was finding dependable equipment that meets design airflows to ensure a reliable, comfortable, and healthy supply of air to the occupants 24/7.

There are 483 downtown luxury condominiums and business suites in the Sky Residences. The engineering experts from Stantec opted to use two inline duct fans per condominium and suite to meet this challenge.

prioAIR fans were considered the ideal solution for their compact size. The dimensions meant the fans easily fit in the shallow ceiling space, allowing the suites to have an open and luxurious feel in keeping with their modern aesthetic.

Interior of Stantec Tower

Engineering excellence at play

In each apartment suite, one fan was installed in the main bathroom on a timer switch, and the second fan was established to provide proper ventilation to the open kitchen and the living room areas.

The fans, controlled via a speed controller, allowed airflow to match demand in various operating modes, improving efficiency. They work in series with constant airflow regulators/control damper boxes, which ensure the design flows are never exceeded despite the strong winter stack effect in the building.

Solving for the stack effect

The stack effect is a pressure difference created due to temperature disparity from indoors to outdoors and owing to height.

In winter, warm air rises like a hot air balloon while cold air replaces the rising air at the tower's base. Vertical connections in the building, such as ducts and elevator shafts, provide paths for air. The consultants did their best to seal important doors and penetrations to limit air movement and divide the pressure across multiple elements. If unrestricted, the phenomenon can lead to extreme pressures on building features and unwanted airflow, leading to elevator doors being unable to work or overall inefficient operation.

In summer, the stack effect is much weaker but reversed. Dense, cold-conditioned air tries to sink to the bottom of the building. It is softer, especially in Canada's climate, because the temperature difference is much less outdoors than indoors.

Proper fan placement and the use of constant airflow regulators contributed to the project's elimination of the winter stack effect and airflow issues with the Stantec Tower.

Consideration for such critical issues is a testament to the engineering expertise behind the project.

The prioAIR inline fan from Systemair provided the performance range we sought across varying conditions and a compact package that worked well with the residential suite ceiling heights we needed to achieve.

Scott Hiller
Mechanical Engineer, Stantec Engineering

Contributing to the holistic vision

Overall, Systemair supplied:

  • 974 prioAIR 6 fans

  • 974 WC 15 Speed Controllers

The fans are multi-purpose and ideal for long ventilation ducts in low static pressure settings and commercial and residential applications requiring full airflow controls.

The prioAIR also has the highest cfm/W making them suitable for sustainability-focused buildings like the Stantec Tower. The fans feature a plastic housing, making them ideal for high humidity environments and even compliant with European ERP efficiency requirements.

Prio
Compact, energy-efficient, and best of all – Quiet. Just how duct fans should be.
PRIO