Ontario Construction News staff writer
ANC Modular Inc. will manufacture prefabricated pedestrian bridges, platform access buildings and other components for the Oakville GO Station renovation as part of a project to expand capacity and improve accessibility at the busy transit hub.
The Brantford-based company is working with the Kenaidan Murphy Joint Venture, construction manager for the Metrolinx project, to build four buildings, pedestrian bridges, elevator shafts, platform access stairs and canopies using volumetric modular construction.
The components will be manufactured at ANC’s 180,000-square-foot factory in Brantford, where modules will be assembled, finished and inspected before being transported to the station for installation during planned service disruptions.
The Oakville GO Station renovation is part of Metrolinx’s plan to expand GO Transit service, preparing the station to accommodate trains as frequently as every 15 minutes during peak travel periods.
Construction is underway at the site, including work to rebuild platforms with provisions for future electrification, construct accessible pedestrian bridges with four elevators and four staircases, and install new mini-platforms, canopies and shelters. The project also includes a larger bus loop and upgrades to the station building.
ANC is working with Kenaidan Murphy and Toronto-based design consultant R.V. Anderson Associates Ltd. to adapt the architectural drawings to its volumetric modular system while maintaining the original design.
Each module will consist of a steel-framed unit manufactured in ANC’s CSA A277-certified factory and welded in its Canadian Welding Bureau-certified shop. Workers and subcontractors will complete as much of the interior and exterior finishes, building services and fixtures as possible before the modules leave the factory.
The approach allows manufacturing to proceed alongside construction at the station, reducing the amount of work required on site and limiting disruption to passengers.
ANC said factory production also helps protect the construction schedule from weather-related delays and provides greater control over quality and energy performance. Module installations will be coordinated with platform construction and carried out in planned phases, reducing the duration of work near active railway tracks.
Oakville GO opened in 1967, the same year GO Transit began operating. The station is the busiest on the Lakeshore West line, with more than 10,270 customers using it daily.
The modular construction approach is intended to reduce on-site construction risks for workers and the public while limiting interruptions for passengers using the station.
ANC said the project will also support Ontario’s manufacturing and skilled trades workforce. Its in-house design and engineering coordination team is handling the modularization, while fabrication in Brantford will involve local skilled trades, including certified welders, and Ontario suppliers.
The company said 80 to 85 per cent of the steel framing used in the modules will be Canadian, with materials sourced internationally only when equivalent products are not manufactured in Canada.
“The Oakville GO Station Renovation is exactly the kind of project that ANC was built for,” said Andrew Neill, founder, president and CEO of ANC.
“Volumetric steel modular construction has an important role to play as our communities continue to invest in upgrades to our infrastructure, transit systems and more,” Neill said. “Oakville GO is a busy site where every hour of on-site work matters.”
He said prefabricating the buildings, bridges, elevator shafts, stairs and canopies will help Metrolinx and Kenaidan Murphy complete the work more safely and with less disruption to transit users.
“Bringing this approach to a station on the Lakeshore corridor means a great deal to all of us at ANC,” Neill said.
ANC was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Brantford, where it manufactures modular building components for the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors.
