Toronto-based WZMH has launched its digital online recladding guide at BuildGreen Atlantic, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
For over 60 years, WZMH has been designing office towers and has amassed over three decades of experience in renewing these buildings.
The WZMH Recladding Guide focuses on how building envelope redesigns can revitalize an aging office tower by updating its performance and appearance, while also enhancing occupant comfort.
The guide explores the “why’s” and “hows” of recladding and presents multiple case studies. Additionally, it outlines WZMH’s proven, seven-category suite of recladding options, ranging from the tactical replacement of one element, such as cladding panels or glazing, through to a complete reskinning.
WZMH principals Nicola Casciato and Harrison Chan and WZMH strategic business development lead Jennifer Davis recently presented a seminar at BuildGreen Atlantic based on the recladding guide’s content.
While the need to replace building components nearing end-of-life is often what prompts building owners to undertake a recladding project, projects of this type are an increasingly important means of achieving an expanding range of objectives.
“A recladding is a real opportunity to give a building a new voice in many different ways – from an aesthetic standpoint, from a sustainability standpoint, and from a user comfort standpoint,” states Casciato in Remake It Better.
Chan adds that growing emphasis on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations, in combination with an increasingly holistic concept of sustainability, has recontextualized recladding. “As recently as a decade ago, our clients were primarily interested in recladding for reasons related to capital repair work and perhaps also rebranding,” he said. “These are still important considerations, but now ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon’ are often the words that kick-start the conversation.”
The guide’s five case study buildings are all located in Toronto’s Financial District and illustrate how WZMH’s approach to each recladding project is tailored to client objectives and existing building conditions.
An example of this is 121 King Street West, a 25-storey tower that opened in 1984. The impetus for recladding was to replace overly reflective glass that was mirroring interior views back to the building’s occupants, rather than affording clear views to the outside. The recladding, completed in 2023, resolved this issue, while also improving airtightness and updating the building’s appearance through the replacement of its horizontal spandrels. On this project, as on many other WZMH recladdings, most of the renovation work was done from the exterior via mast-climbing platforms, enabling the building to remain occupied by its tenants throughout construction.
Another case study, the 16-storey 1960s Bell Canada building at 76 Adelaide Street West,
involved completely removing the deteriorated main façade and reskinning it with large, curved
glass panels. Inspired by the geometry of sound waves, the building’s striking new look
embodies the dynamism of telecommunications.
Throughout Remake it Better, comments from WZMH’s in-house recladding experts, building
envelope specialists on case study project teams, and Cadillac Fairview Senior Director Carlo
Guido – a client team lead on the 95 Wellington Street West case study building – highlight the
evolving and expanding rationale for recladding in the era of ESG, net zero, and
decarbonization