Macdonald Block is a modernist government complex consisting of four office tower buildings connected by a two-storey podium that houses eleven ministries of the provincial government.

These buildings are connected by an outdoor courtyard, designed in the 1960s by Sasaki, Strong and Associates, which is recognized as a significant cultural heritage landscape. The buildings dating back to 1965 to 1971 are classified as a “heritage place” under the Ontario Realty Corporation’s Heritage Management Process.

Beginning in 2016, the Government of Ontario began a comprehensive program of renewal to achieve low-energy performance while maintaining the heritage features of the building’s exterior and interior modernist elements.

ERA contributed to the feasibility study for the complex to determine the means by which deep energy retrofit measures would be integrated within a program of conservation that includes materials salvage, construction phasing and the development of rehabilitation details. ERA then developed a series of comprehensive performance specifications to form the basis of design for a design-build team selection process in order to be executed under the Alternative Delivery Model. ERA will continue its role during the implementation phase through compliance review over the coming years.

Learn more about the project from Infrastructure Ontario