Banque Nationale

Elevators, New Construction

Montreal, Canada

submitted by Schindler Elevator Corporation

Banque Nationale’s new head office is one of the biggest Canadian construction projects of the past 25 years, and it is among Montreal’s tallest skyscrapers. The new 40-story building rises 200 m with an elaborate, multi–plane contoured façade. It totals approximately 1.1 million ft² of office space — room for 8,000 workers. The tower is connected to the Montreal underground city (RÉSO) and stands adjacent to an integral, 40,000-ft² urban park that is open to the public. Among the distinctive features of the new headquarters are a two-level cafeteria, a daycare, a fitness center, 400 bicycle parking spaces, 80 charging stations for electric vehicles and an outdoor garden on the 40th floor. To achieve LEED v4 Gold and WELL certification, the building was built according to the strictest sustainable building conventions in the world. 

Schindler Elevator Corporation was selected as vertical-transportation (VT) contractor for the project. Groundbreaking took place at the end of 2018, and VT site work began in October 2020 when the escalators were delivered and put in place. Schindler met all key milestones, with final handover of the last double-deck elevators completed by November 20, 2023.

The project was a massive undertaking for Schindler; 11 containers of material were used for cabs, as well as 12.7 km of guiderails and 55 km of suspension media length. The tower’s VT system consists of a large quantity of double-deck elevators, and eight car banks demonstrate a commitment to tenant service and elevator performance. The elevators are equipped with PORT Destination Dispatching with HID mobile connectivity. 

The Banque Nationale’s striking façade shape and details demanded high-tech considerations and solutions for hoistway construction. The building’s “twisting” façade was constructed, along with the elevator hoistways, over the course of more than two years. During this period, a building twist accommodation for the asymmetric design was planned that resulted in anticipated horizontal displacements, due to the tower’s unique shape and structural design. These accommodations, together with Schindler’s hoistway survey process and premium guide rail installation kit, delivered state-of-the-art ride quality, achieving performance at rated speed of better than 5 milli-g in these unique conditions.

Other challenges included the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the global supply chain and quality assurance process. Material orders were placed between spring 2020 and spring 2021. Using effective project management, Schindler was able to mobilize factories and suppliers across its global network to find operational solutions to supply the materials needed to keep the job on time. Schindler found innovative solutions, such as creating cab interior mock-ups sooner than is typical to allow for early production and shipping. The cabs were assembled on-site in spring 2022, eliminating any risk of delay.  

Plans were originally made for the project team to visit the factory in China to inspect and observe assembly of the double-deck elevators. Because this was not possible due to COVID-19 lockdowns, the assembly was filmed from several camera angles in the Shanghai factory test tower. The video footage gave the Canadian installation team the information necessary to perform their tasks accurately and check for quality. Schindler employed a phased installation process that coordinated with site construction progress to keep the VT installation moving ahead while accommodating required access and the work of other trades. 

Logistics for this downtown project, located at the intersection of the Old City and the bustling, newer transportation hub area, also proved complicated. Special considerations were made to ensure large, critically scheduled, hoist machines were delivered on time. Schindler produced detailed traffic flow predictions and demonstrated simulated traffic flows through the building under various conditions for the client — a feature which has now become a standard offering for the company’s large projects around the world. 

President and CEO of Schindler Canada Lisa Konnry said:

“Such an impressive, high-quality and on-time successful completion of a complex project such as this could only have been achieved with a strong partnership and the collaboration of all involved. We are very happy to have been able to partner with National Bank and Broccolini and are truly grateful for the commitment and dedication of our mechanics and our supporting teams locally and globally.”