Bird was the managing partner of the design-build joint venture and a minority equity partner in the concession for GO Transit’s East Rail Maintenance Facility. Achieving LEED^® Gold certification, the new facility provides maintenance, repair, and additional storage for the local rail transit system’s (GO Transit) planned service expansion. The scope of work included 46,450-square-metres of new construction consisting of progressive maintenance bays, coach maintenance shops, locomotive maintenance shops, paint booth, wheel shop, wash bays, fuel storage, a track maintenance building, and over 16-kilometres of track.

Specialized vehicle servicing equipment included drop tables, wheel profile and measuring, automatic wheel brake system, and a wheel truing machine. All systems were closely coordinated with an extensive amount of under slab drainage pipe and process fluid systems along with other mechanical and electrical installations. There are wayside power systems to provide plug-in power for the trains after the engines have been shut down.

The team executed a fast-track schedule that included expediting the main building’s steel construction in five sequences. At the peak of design and construction, over 50 project management staff were involved, as well as approximately 1,000 workers on-site.