First new Canada Post plant in 52 years opens

Canada Post opened the first new processing plant it has built in 20 years on June 4.
The $100-million project, built next to Winnipeg’s James Armstrong Richardson Airport, replaces a 52-year old building downtown. It is part of Canada Post’s plan to invest $2 billion in infrastructure, equipment and technology over the next seven years.
The 278,000 sq. ft (26,000-m2.) complex sits on 27 acres of land and consists of a 235,000 sq. ft. sorting plant with state of the art equipment, 25,000 sq. ft. of offices, administration facilities and 41 loading docks.
It is the first mail Canada Post processing plant to achieve LEED certification, but achieving this was a challenge due to the airport location. For example, stormwater retention ponds were not possible as they attract birds.
Built as a model for future plants, the two-storey building structure is concrete block wall and insulated metal composite panels.  State-of-the-art equipment inside processes 40,000 pieces of mail per hour, 25% faster than older equipment.
Consulting engineers involved in the project include: Adjeleian Allen Rubeli, Stantec, Nova 3 Engineering, Wolfrom Engineering and Laverne Draward. The architect for the design-build team was Nejmark, and MHPM were project managers.