It had a nearly impossible government-mandated completion date, but the $49-million renovation of SFU’s 100,000-sq.-ft. chemistry wing in the Shrum Science Centre was finished as planned in time for September classes.

The renewal, which began in June 2009 with federal and provincial Knowledge Infrastructure Program funding, was designed to achieve LEED Gold environmental building certification.

It included replacing the wing’s entire exterior envelope, adding seismic bracing and new heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, upgrading mechanical and electrical systems, and redesigning lab areas.

“This was a very technically challenging project,” says K.C. Jones, SFU’s assistant director of facilities development.

“To get all the equipment and services required on the drawings, and then installed in the correct places, within the timeline, was in large part only possible because of the wonderful support we received from the chemistry department.”

The architects, Henriquez and Partners, also did “an amazing job of respecting Arthur Erickson’s key architectural vocabulary while modernizing the building’s exterior,” says Jones.

SFU used the renovation as an opportunity to rethink the chemistry building’s overall use of space. Previously, the building was a series of small research and teaching labs with concrete block between each lab, similar to what still exists in the biology wing.

As a result of the rebuild, the university’s five main chemistry research streams—synthetic, organic, inorganic, analytical and physical—now each share one large lab per research stream, facilitating future flexibility without removing or building any walls.

All large heavy equipment is now centralized to the lower floor near the freight elevator and loading dock.

Synthetic chemists, who use the most fume hoods, are now located in a lab at the top of the building to minimize duct length. And one centralized teaching lab for all undergrad courses gives maximum flexibility in class sizes.

Renewing the facility, which houses nearly 60 faculty and staff, will help SFU further its research and development contributions in areas including health and life sciences, the environment, and information and communication technologies.

The building’s official reopening is planned for early 2012.