The CHUM – the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal – is one of North America’s largest university hospital centres and the largest in Quebec. Construction took place in three phases: the research centre in 2013, the hospital in 2017 and the complementary buildings in 2021. At 406,000 m2, this innovative, smart and modern hospital was designed to serve the greater Montreal and most of Quebec’s medical needs.
A hospital centre of this scale required a centralized building management system. And now, thanks to the expertise of Regulvar, the CHUM has a complex building automation system as impressive as this major health and societal project.
In an era where comfort and energy savings are the watchwords, the CHUM has launched an initiative to achieve 40% greater energy efficiency than reference buildings in order to surpass LEED Silver certification, a guarantee of superior construction quality in terms of human health and environment.
The hospital centre builder called on Regulvar’s expertise to install a centralized building management system to monitor and manage system performance, thus avoiding energy waste and detecting anomalies. The new hospital was built on an existing hospital site and the existing site and infrastructure had to be maintained until the central plant and buildings were functional.
Regulvar was also mandated to provide additional services such as providing VFDs, Starters and MCCs, automating specialized process equipment and providing a laboratory control solution.
Regulvar installed more than 2,300 energy meters to track the buildings’ energy, electricity and thermal consumption with 143,500 control points to orchestrate the systems. In addition, an energy charge management system measures electrical input for load shedding and peak consumption to reduce electricity costs.
We installed an air distribution control system which manages microbial contamination while maintaining the comfort and safety of occupants and ensuring that hospital ventilation, temperature and humidity norms are respected. These systems integrate the management of more than 400 different pressure controls (operating rooms, respiratory isolation rooms, protective isolation rooms, energy cascading for laboratories, pharmacies and operating rooms). We also installed a UL864-certified smoke detection system so that in the event of a fire, smoke will be evacuated, and new air will be transferred into the affected zone (refugee areas).
To enhance its reliability, certain critical equipment has a redundancy system whereby additional units take over in the event of failure. With regards to the thermal plant, we installed a control system for the 12 gas-fired boilers, the electric boiler, the 34 chillers and the five double cooling towers.
Interconnectivity and data communication between all the systems is assured by the implementation of, among other things, Modbus RTU gateways required to integrate 118 energy meters, seven compressed air systems and 49 domestic hot water heaters. In addition to the four BACnet/IP gateways which exchange fire alarm data and fuel management systems, we integrated 849 BACnet MS/TP units, including 704 power meters, nine reverse osmosis systems, nine chillers, 13 boilers and 25 chemical and perchloric hoods.
Designing and implementing the building automation for this large-scale hospital centre required vision and creativity. Regulvar developed a complex system that will meet the CHUM’s needs now and into the future.
The Health Sciences North Research Institute was established in 2011 to generate medical discoveries and find solutions that can help people in Northeastern Ontario. Subsequently, the institute acquired a new research facility in a renovated former elementary school. The facility includes offices, laboratories and animal care space.
In this new facility, Regulvar implemented systems that effectively control the temperature and humidity in the laboratories so that various experiments could be conducted. We also implemented devices that specifically control the air pressure and circulation when using the laboratory fume hoods. Overall, our systems ensure centralized operation of the various equipment, for the comfort of the animals and staff and to conduct the research. In addition, a software program records the temperature and humidity data collected by the sensors, after which we send a daily report to the maintenance team.
This is a good example of the importance of control.
We are continuously working on large-scale projects at McGill University to modernize their installations and reduce their energy consumption. Which is why a number of projects are completed whereas others are still in the works. Projects are underway in the offices, in the classrooms, mechanical rooms and laboratories at the downtown campus, as well as in the Stewart biology building and the Lyman Duff medical building.
Classes were first held at the downtown campus of McGill University in 1829. Many of the most important heritage buildings outside of Old Montreal and Old Quebec are on McGill’s campus. The Stewart and Lyman Duff buildings were constructed in the 1960s and no longer met the standards for modern university facilities. Regulvar was tasked with optimizing the hydronic energy networks and managing the heating and cooling loads.
Regulvar put in place an artificial load management system to optimize the energy recovery and the efficiency of the water cooling and heating equipment. This system was installed in many of the downtown campus buildings to connect the hydronic networks. In addition, we integrated a control system with a number of energy production units and developed an advanced graphic interface using HTML5 and enteliVIZ. The management system we installed regulates all the hydronic networks, including those of Siemens. At the Lyman Duff medical building, we completely modernized the ventilation system and the hydronic networks.
In the Steward medical building, we installed an advanced monitoring system for the ventilation, heating and air conditioning to ensure optimum ambient conditions while maintaining sound energy management of the laboratories. We also installed an air quality control system. As part of this project, new, high-tech laboratories are being built where we will be adding a chilled beam control system, a first for the university.
These modifications will provide McGill with optimum control over the different systems and reduce their energy consumption, with the added benefit of enhancing occupant comfort.
This seven-storey health sciences building includes offices, workspaces, a lecture theatre and a mezzanine. As well, almost half of its total area, 120,000 sq. ft., is occupied by teaching labs, open-plan research labs and a vivarium — areas that require specific air management, which is a challenge in itself.
The building automation system implemented had to contribute to the achievement of energy efficiency objectives, ensure the comfort and safety of the occupants, as well as the seamless and efficient management of all activities. This other challenge was just as demanding… and just as feasible.
Regulvar was able to contribute to the success of this project through its specialized expertise in integration and its extensive experience in critical environment control. The designers favoured an approach that considers all the systems as a whole and brings together all the functions on a single platform. They therefore put forward control strategies that act at the application level rather than at the device level. This allowed them to optimize equipment operation, ensure system stability, establish fast communications and reduce energy consumption.
One of the challenges was the typically erratic, intensive and energy-intensive operation of specialized equipment in laboratories and animal care areas. This is the case for the 40 fume hoods that rapidly extract large amounts of air from the rooms. To compensate for this sudden load and avoid disrupting conditions elsewhere in the building, we were able to program the control system to react quickly and appropriately.
Built in 1980, this architectural wonder located in the national capital region receives more than a million visitors each year from around the world. For occupant comfort and to maintain the ideal environmental conditions for the artifacts, the museum needed to modernize its heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
Regulvar was required to maintain the environmental conditions while the work was being carried out. We needed to map the Ethernet network topography and get all of the systems up and running, some of which were difficult to access.
We successfully modernized the museum by integrating 150 air purifying units, 1,000 dual VAV controllers and more than 9,500 entry and exit points. We also installed digital controllers directly on the heat recovery equipment which already included four chillers and a water-to-water plate heat exchanger which used river water.
The systems that Regulvar installed will ensure that the museum’s artifacts will be preserved in ideal conditions so that visitors can continue to enjoy the exhibits for years to come.
The hotel group operates 19 hotels in Canada under the Le Germain, Alt and Escad banners. In addition, two new establishments are currently under construction.
Regulvar carried out work in 14 of these hotels, namely the Alt hotels in Brossard, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Halifax and St. John’s; the Le Germain hotels in Montreal, Baie-Saint-Paul, Ottawa and Calgary; and the Escad hotel in Brossard. Here is an overview of what Regulvar achieved in these buildings.
Regulvar implemented control solutions in the lobbies, conference rooms and mechanical rooms of the various hotels. Our specialists integrated the generators and electrical inputs into our control solutions to improve energy management.
As part of these projects, we also implemented a heating and cooling water management and monitoring system to optimize the networks that feed the heat pumps in the rooms and to recover heat to preheat the water that circulates in the domestic water heaters.
We also installed the RE-DIA intelligent make-up water system of our own design. The system maintains a constant water pressure in a chilled water or heating network, cuts off the water supply in case of leaks, prevents any backflow or siphoning that could lead to contamination of the drinking water, and refills the network properly and automatically.
This complex management is carried out by means of a digital controller that receives information from a pressure sensor and a water meter; all integrated in the BACnet network.
At the same time, we integrated VRF heat pumps which have the capacity to vary the refrigerant flow so that the systems can heat or cool the rooms independently allowing, in this case, to moderate the administrative spaces and the conference rooms.
In addition to being highly energy efficient, our solutions improve room temperature control for the comfort of guests and workers.
Thanks to Regulvar’s solutions, a single management team at the Germain Hotels located in Quebec City can supervise the systems with the help of software that easily diagnoses any problem, even if the hotels are spread over a vast territory.
La Cité Verte is an innovative multi-residential complex in Quebec City and is one of the first large-scale developments that uses intelligent green building technology, is carbon neutral and low energy and water consumption. The project raises the bar on environmental construction standards.
This state-of-the-art project includes 575 residential units composed of townhouses, rental units and condominiums, as well as commercial and community spaces and green areas. La Cité Verte uses the most advanced biomass heating system in North America, which is fed by wood pellets, a by-product of the Quebec forestry industry. The system supplies residential heating and hot water. The complex also includes an ingenious waste recycling system as well as a rainwater recovery system. The complex also benefits from high-efficiency heat recovery ventilation systems for heating and air conditioning.
At the heart of the district heating network are four 1,250 kW wood pellet biomass boilers which heat two 22,000 litre water reservoirs. Heating and domestic hot water is distributed via a 2.2 km underground network using a large Delta T, a 40°C difference between water supply (at 90°C) and return water (at 50°C). There are also 35 heating substations imported from Austria by Regulvar in La Cité Verte’s buildings that deliver heating according to needs and contribute to calculating the heating costs for each unit. In addition, four heat pumps lower the temperature of the chimney emissions and control the exhaust.
Regulvar designed and commissioned the district heating control system and the energy consumption measurement system. The BACnet and Zigbee communications are supported by 990 controllers. Seventy energy meters certified according to EN1434 standards provide data on drinking water, domestic hot water and electricity consumption for billing purposes. A flash memory stores measurement data which can be accessed via the Web to produce invoices.
Touchscreen dashboards are equipped with personalized interfaces that are completely programmable. This allows residents access to important information such as the temperature and room set point, the outside temperature, and their consumption history. They can also monitor in real time their electricity or thermal energy consumption, daily, monthly or annually. Note that residents also have access to the building’s main entrance camera.
La Cité Verte is an unprecedented energy-efficient project. It uses 30 per cent less total energy than conventional developments and water usage is reduced by half. Analytical software enables the buildings’ energy management and the optimization of its systems operations. The information available helps residents become aware of their own consumption of electricity, drinking water, hot water and heating.
La Cité Verte is an ecofriendly and sustainably designed development. With its original approach to green building automation, Regulvar played a crucial role in optimizing the complex’s energy performance and helped prove that ecological management and urban development can go hand in hand.
Completed in 1918, the Sun Life building is Montreal’s first skyscraper. At more than a century old, the building needed to modernize the automation system that managed the lighting, the access, as well as the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC).
Standing 137 meters tall, it was a significant challenge to undertake the work while preserving the building’s heritage character and architectural elements. Under these conditions, creative solutions were needed.
Access control:
HVAC and lighting control:
Regulvar successfully modernized this century-old commercial heritage building by integrating the access, video surveillance, lighting and HVAC systems. To meet the challenge of preserving the heritage aspects of the building, we used specialized methods and equipment. In addition, as the new control system had to occupy the same space as the previous system, we custom designed devices and developed unique tools for our client. Proof that, with a little ingenuity, anything is possible.
500 Place d’Armes is located in the heart of Old Montreal. Today owned by Cromwell Management, the building was originally built between 1965 and 1968 by the Canadian National Bank to house its head office.
This 32-storey building has been undergoing renovations since 2012 in order to meet current standards. All electromechanical systems, such as the elevators and the air conditioning, ventilation and heating system, were modified and Regulvar designed and implemented the building automation system
One of the tenants had installed products using the lonWorks protocol on seven floors of the building. Since they were almost brand-new and to avoid replacing them, Regulvar opted instead to integrate them, which was more complicated to implement but about five times less costly than a full replacement.
We began by integrating the products that a tenant had installed on seven of the floors. The third-party devices were equipped with a BACnet-LON gateway, which made it possible to export the control points of all existing controllers on those seven floors.
We replaced the outdated pneumatic system with a digital system and centralized the control of the equipment. We also installed a building automation system to ensure the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) regulation and the operability of the systems on all floors from a single station and a single BACnet graphic interface.
In the mechanical rooms, the building automation system controls about 50 variable speed drives for the 4 ventilation systems, 4 chillers, 2 cooling towers and 5 boilers.
On the floors, the system contributes to maintaining an adequate temperature and ventilation. Because of the abundant fenestration, the HVAC system requires precise adjustment to avoid severe cooling in winter and heating in summer.
As for the parking lot, thanks to some 15 carbon monoxide (CO) detectors, variable speed drives and a controller, the ventilation and heating are modulated to maintain a safe CO level and a comfortable temperature. The system also controls the temperature of the entrance ramp slab, which is equipped with a radiant heating system to melt snow.
A real facelift for this building!
Originally built in the 1990s, the Carling complex was one of the main sites for the telecommunications company Nortel. The federal government acquired the 12-building complex in 2010 to consolidate the strategic and administrative functions of the Department of National Defense, reducing the number of locations it occupies from 40 to seven. Given the major change in vocation, design and construction work was required to modernize the buildings. As a result, major upgrades were made to the mechanical and electrical systems and Regulvar replaced the building automation system throughout the complex.
The work, worth a total of $7 million, was carried out from 2017 to 2020 over an area of 2.3 million square feet. As part of this project, Regulvar had to meet the challenge of working with two separate teams operating the site’s south and north sectors, while implementing a system using a single enteliWEB server.
In addition to implementing 24,000 physical control points and 880 meters, we integrated the following:
Due to the hundreds of ventilation units and thousands of terminal units, including VAV boxes and fan coils, Regulvar deployed a large team of electricians, technicians and other specialists in order to meet the schedule.
In addition to providing state-of-the-art digital control of all HVAC systems, Regulvar integrated the Trane chiller with Tracer UC800 controller, Viessmann boilers, PowerHawks energy meters, and ABB variable speed drives into the BACnet network. All of this was consolidated using Delta Controls’ enteliWEB platform and adapted to the needs of the various user groups. In addition, the entire switch network was designed and installed by Regulvar using fibre optics.
Also, since the data collected at the entry and exit points must be interpreted, we ensured that they were exported to the Rycom analysis system via Delta controllers integrated into the BACnet network.
All in all, the federal government is achieving significant savings, not only due to the reduced number of buildings, but also because system controls, which contribute to reducing the operating costs. That’s what we call efficiency gains.
Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport undertook an extensive expansion program in 2000. During this work, several piers were rebuilt in order to double the airport’s capacity and considerably improve passenger service
Maintaining the existing services and daily routine during the expansion program represented a major challenge.
Regulvar implemented solutions based on Delta Controls’ BACnet technology.
These solutions make it possible to use various communication protocols and to integrate several building automation subsystems. We were able to use the BACnet interface to integrate 10 chillers from Carrier, McQuay, Trane or York. A Modbus interface was used to integrate 6 Lieberts units and 4 Auto-Flame boilers. We also integrated the SOMFY motorized curtain operating system via a LonWorks interface. It is important to mention that we used a RUBI interface, a universal BACnet interface designed by Regulvar, to enter weather data that is constantly updated by Environment Canada.
The operator interface is provided by 8 to 12 computers simultaneously present on the wide area network and by a Historian server station responsible for long-term data archiving. The flexibility of the Delta Controls product line allowed Regulvar to customize the operating sequences and graphics according to the standards applicable to airports.
We must emphasize that the airport’s operating efficiency was considerably increased as a result of our work and Delta Controls’ ability to manage all electromechanical systems for a multitude of products. Our solutions have also greatly improved the sequences of operation and the monitoring of trends and system behavior. In addition, it is much easier to produce custom graphics.
In short, Regulvar’s solutions and Delta Controls’ products have made it possible to achieve all of the objectives in terms of energy savings, operations and service quality.
LEED – Silver
A Crown corporation created in 1977, VIA Rail Canada provides passenger transportation across Canada. Regulvar carried out work at its Toronto maintenance center as part of a modernization project.
This mandate was not without its challenges. Indeed, the length of the building exceeds 310 m representing approximately the length of three football fields, not to mention the fact that it is an industrial complex.
The maintenance facility has 7 large hangar doors, each of which is equipped with side air curtain devices. These operate to form a thermal barrier when a door opens in cold weather. Evacuation systems detect the movement of locomotives and activate only the evacuators located above them. In addition, fresh air units are started to maintain a negative pressure in the environment.
Gas detection systems with industrial grade touch screen stations integrated with BACnet protocol are also located in the building. These systems help protect employees from locomotive exhaust. When a system detects the presence of flue gas, evacuators start to remove the gas and then fresh air units kick in or accelerate to compensate for the pressure drop. As a result, one of Regulvar’s tasks was to develop and program these operating sequences. The BACnet touch screen installed on each gas detection station allows employees to observe the operation of all systems in real time and to operate them as needed.
As for the challenges inherent in this project, the distances were too great for Ethernet cables, so we had to use fiber optics between the gas detection stations. It was also preferable to use MS/TP communication for the ventilation units. We also had to use rigid conduits to protect against water infiltration during the washing of the cars, and against mechanical impacts that small maintenance vehicles can cause. This type of large and complex installation required a significant deployment of qualified personnel in order to meet the planned schedule.
Pharmascience is a manufacturer of generic pharmaceutical products with 3 facilities located in Candiac, Dorval and Montreal-Royalmount.
We performed our work in 2 of these buildings, namely, the Dorval site, which houses the distribution center, and the Royalmount site which houses the head office and the state-of-the-art solid dosage form production facilities.
To ensure interconnection and data transmission, we integrated equipment such as chillers, York units, boilers, purified water systems, variable frequency drives and exchangers, for a total of over 300 integrated points.
Since the pharmaceutical industry is highly regulated and the company distributes its products globally, we had to ensure that all systems implemented met the FDA’s CFR21 Part 11 standard. All the necessary checks on the validated environment, which are governed by defined procedures, have been carried out to ensure that the equipment implemented complies with the standard, while performing well. For example, we had to verify the temperatures of the refrigerators and freezers according to specific protocols. Also, in addition to the installation, we were required to start up the equipment and document all validations and adjustments in detail. Regulvar has the expertise and equipment required to perform these complex and time-consuming setpoint temperature verifications and adjustments.
Bausch Healthis a global pharmaceutical company whose head office is located in Laval, Quebec. The company called upon Regulvar’s expertise to update its facility. The project is still underway.
To date, Regulvar has installed two enteliWEB software programs to replace the old ORCAview version in the office area and in the pharmaceutical plant. We have also installed a data storage unit, namely the “CopperCube” from Delta Controls, which archives and manages trend logs. In addition, we completely redesigned the customer’s graphical database with the enteliVIZ interface, which we adapted to their needs, and then proceeded with the pharma-level commissioning.
The SNOLAB laboratory conducts neutrino and dark matter studies 2 km underground in Vale’s Creighton Mine near Sudbury, Ontario. It is the cleanest and deepest laboratory in the world.
The conditions in these 5,000 m2 of underground space are very special. The air is thin and dusty, the humidity is high and the heat from the rock is about 42°C, so it is intense. To make them clean rooms, proper control of the ventilation and air conditioning systems is therefore essential. It is not only vital for the workers, but also for the work they do. Which is why it is necessary to ensure the necessary refrigeration for the experiments, guarantee the absence of dust, maintain the required air pressure in each zone and supervise the air quality.
To achieve this feat, Regulvar’s solution integrates complex algorithms to strictly control all parameters. Air and water supplies, as well as all systems and filters, are monitored and linked to alarms. This precision allows researchers in this high-tech laboratory to conduct studies without worry.
Laboratory or clean room managers can therefore count on Regulvar to help them comply with the standards in effect, protect people, preserve the material being treated, maintain productivity and save energy.
The City of Montreal owns hundreds of municipal buildings to support its operations, administration, activities and services
Prior to 1999, the city used Johnson Controls’ Metasys building automation system in its municipal buildings. At that time, Regulvar integrated the Delta Controls and Metasys systems into a single operations control station. To do so, we used software with all the drivers required for the proper functioning of both systems. Compatibility was ensured through the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) capability of the Delta Controls system. However, this convenient solution was a bit slow. An upgrade was therefore necessary.
Within the city’s 200-plus municipal buildings are more than 12,000 physical automation control points that are split between Johnson Controls and Delta Controls systems. As a key strategy for the future, Regulvar was asked to implement one open universal IP network platform in order to allow the integration of these twp building management systems (BMS).
Following the launch of Delta Controls’ BACnet version, all previously completed projects were upgraded at no cost and performance was greatly improved. The DDE driver was then replaced with a BACnet-OPC solution, which significantly enhanced system speed and performance with a much more powerful drive. Finally, the city asked Johnson Controls to install a BACnet server to convert its proprietary protocols.
The Delta Controls system now manages more than 150 buildings and nearly 370,000 control points connected to the city’s UDP/IP network. From using ORCAweb software to manage its entire network, since 2013 the city has used only enteliWEB, the web-based version of Delta Controls’ graphical software, to manage all of its buildings and to link both Johnson and Delta Controls systems.
This parliamentary city, a true jewel of francophone heritage, is one of the most economically prosperous Canadian cities.
In 2000, as part of a provincial government reform involving the amalgamation of municipalities, the Quebec City authorities found themselves with 6 boroughs and more than 500 buildings to manage. It was then that the decision was made to standardize the digital control panels of the buildings.
• 8,700 control points in more than 1,200 premises
• Delta Controls BACnet-compliant digital controllers
Regulvar had already installed control solutions in 80 buildings in the boroughs that were now part of the new city. Also, because of its personalized service and products, Regulvar was selected to upgrade all the installations in order to integrate them into the merged city’s Intranet. Subsequently, training on the software and products installed was offered to all staff involved
Our systems now manage over 170 buildings. In addition, the city has a highly qualified municipal facilities management team. This team operates all of the buildings with the Delta Controls products that we installed and thanks to the versatility of the software. The team is also fully autonomous in terms of adding new controllers, programming, commissioning and creating graphic panoramas.
At the same time, we act as consultants for various projects, particularly in the area of energy conservation. To this end, the city’s technical team has developed an electrical load shedding infrastructure to reduce power demand. The city is benefitting from Hydro-Québec’s Demand Response Option program and, as a result, continues to reap the rewards of working with Regulvar
The City of Sherbrooke is the main economic, cultural and institutional center of the Eastern Townships administrative region. Regulvar’s first project in a building in this city dates back to 2007. Having won the public tender, we implemented centralized controls for the electromechanical systems of the Jean-Besré Performing Arts Centre. Today, our solutions are present in 27 buildings of the city.
Among the many solutions we have implemented, it is interesting to mention that there are more than 8,700 control points.
We have calibrated all the gas sensors in these buildings to ensure reading accuracy, upgraded the controls in many of them, and integrated the generators in the fire stations to facilitate their management and interaction with the other system components.
Since 2015, the city has been using enteliWEB software. This is essential for the management of alarms in the city. Moreover, one of the stations is dedicated to this function and integrated into the overall call management process.
It is important to note that the City of Sherbrooke applies a power demand management strategy. For example, when there is a large demand for power in the morning, it overheats its buildings during the night and then shifts to load shedding during the peak period. This results in significant savings and is possible thanks to the control system that generates the modulation of the systems.