Cobourg Residences, Ontario

Conversion of a 2D mechanical design into a coordinated Revit MEP model for Cobourg Residences, a four-storey rental building with 71 units, underground parking and geothermal heating. Delivered for …

Conversion of a 2D mechanical design into a coordinated Revit MEP model for Cobourg Residences, a four-storey rental building with 71 units, underground parking and geothermal heating. Delivered for United Engineering Inc. in about three months, with construction support that continued after handover. The building is now the town's first geothermally conditioned residential building.

The brief

In 2021 United Engineering Inc., a Toronto MEP consultancy, had a 2D mechanical design for Cobourg Residences: 71 rental units over four storeys, with underground parking and geothermal heating. To support construction it needed to become a coordinated 3D model. We were asked to convert it into Revit MEP, produce plan and 3D system sheets, and prepare coordination drawings for site.

What made it hard

A 2D design never shows where systems collide. Converting it meant finding every conflict the drawings had hidden, floor by floor, and resolving them before the contractor did.

How we worked

We modelled HVAC ducts and every piping system (domestic water, sanitary, gas, storm water, heat pump piping and the mechanical rooms) floor by floor, working through several rounds of engineer comments. All disciplines were coordinated in the model for buildability. We delivered 32 plan sheets and 7 3D system sheets in United Engineering's standard. During construction we added parking ceiling coordination drawings, core hole layouts based on site photos, and later, drawings specifically requested to guide the site and installation team.

What we delivered

A coordinated MEP model and drawing set in about three months, May to August 2021, giving the contractor and installers a buildable, clash-checked basis. Cobourg Residences has since been completed.

What we took from it

Contractors keep running into things on site. When they found a better way to route something, they asked us to put it in the model and check what else it would hit. The model stayed useful because it kept up with the building, not just the design.