When the tender documents were issued for replacement of one of two existing air handling units serving the CHEO Research Institute specifying that the unit must be custom painted in zebra pattern, the estimating team at S K Sheet Metal Ltd. weren’t sure if this was a bona fide owner request or perhaps a bit of engineering humour, but the equipment manufacturers and their agents really came through.

The rooftop location of these units is after all visible from patient areas, and CHEO (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario) had taken on a 2021 project of creating a rooftop farm which included silhouette ducks, cows, bunnies and a pride horse! Why wouldn’t a zebra patterned air handling unit fit right in?

With a complex lift arrangement that including filing flight plans with NavCan due to the crane proximity of the helicopter landing pad and the challenge of Ottawa winter conditions, the zebra finally took flight on Friday March 11th with curious onlookers safely behind barricades. One owner representative commented that the experienced SKSM team made it look “easy peasy”.

CHEO has joined the many owners in Ottawa who have embraced a contract structure allowing the discipline with the most significant scope of work to tender as the Prime Contractor, after of course completion of a thorough pre-qualification process intended to demonstrate the bidders’ ability to coordinate multiple subtrades and manage general conditions while saving money for the end user.

CHEO Research Institute AHU2 Replacement is S K Sheet Metal Ltd.’s fourth significant project with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in as many years, the others being:
CHEO CT Scan – the addition of a second CT scan suite requiring dedicated air handling equipment both for ventilation but also cooling of magnetic resonating equipment
CHEO Ophthalmology Clinic – an interior fit-up of clinical space including VAV terminal units, perimeter hydronic heating and controls
CHEO Virology & Newborn Screening Labs – dedicated VRF cooling, for service to existing laboratory environment to compliment fume hood / make-up air and radiant heat systems

Congratulations to the SK Sheet Metal Team for flying and safely landing a Zebra in Ottawa!