Projects / Gérald Godin Building
Transforming the Gérald-Godin Building while respecting its history
In the heart of Old Montréal, the redevelopment of the Gérald-Godin Building brings together heritage conservation, major transformation and the creation of contemporary workplaces. As part of a consortium with EVOQ and Ædifica, STGM helped define an intervention strategy that would reveal the building’s inherent qualities while adapting it to new uses.
Giving new life to a heritage building
Located in the heart of Old Montréal, the Gérald-Godin Building was the subject of a real estate analysis exploring its redevelopment to accommodate office and administrative functions, some requiring enhanced levels of privacy and security.
The EVOQ + STGM + Ædifica consortium, in collaboration with Tetra Tech for structural and civil engineering, BPA for mechanical and electrical engineering, and masonry contractor St-Denis Thompson, was commissioned to conduct the project’s real estate analysis. Our role was to assess the building’s transformation potential and define the scope, costs and implementation parameters of the selected scenario.
Bringing expertise together
Conducted through an integrated design process (IDP), the analysis brought heritage, architectural, functional and technical considerations together from the earliest stages of option development.
The process led to a scenario centred on the complete rehabilitation of the existing building, combined with a five-storey addition in the rear courtyard. This new volume would accommodate office space, the main mechanical rooms, protected parking and a stormwater retention basin. The project also called for the relocation of the vertical circulation core.
Transforming while preserving
The building’s heritage value was central to the approach. The proposed scenario called for preserving the entrance vestibule and monumental staircase, rehabilitating selected original architectural features and restoring the skylights.
This commitment to preservation had to be reconciled with an almost complete interior rehabilitation. Gutting the building would require complex interventions to keep the monumental staircase in place and protect the exterior masonry walls. The rehabilitation would also need to account for the particular seismic behaviour of the existing structure and the presence of terra-cotta floors.
Responding to the building’s context
Transforming a heritage building in such a dense urban setting requires careful consideration of its surroundings. The addition would need to meet Old Montréal’s heritage protection and architectural integration requirements while accommodating numerous technical needs within a constrained footprint.
The project was also intended to pursue LEED certification and incorporate considerations related to stormwater management, natural light, maintenance and the long-term durability of the new building components
Adapting the building to new uses
Ultimately, the redevelopment aimed to create a modern and attractive workplace. A portion of the space was to be designed according to activity-based working (ABW) principles, supporting a range of collaboration and focused-work needs.
Through this real estate analysis, our work helped reconcile conservation and transformation: preserving the qualities that define the character of the Gérald-Godin Building while preparing it for new uses.