Completed in 2002, the police headquarters seismic upgrade and expansion project was part of an overall revitalization plan for the Westminster Civic Center that will also include a 650 space parking structure. The existing 40 year old facility was re-designed and expanded into a 91,000 square foot building that meets all of NWPD’s requirements for many years. Project budget cost was $70 million.
The conversion of the historic Postal Office/Federal Building incorporates New Westminster’s central police station on the first two floors and 45 residential units on the three upper floors. Seismic upgrading to a post-disaster factor of 1.5 ensures that the station could continue to function after the severest of earthquakes. More than 5,000 anchors were driven into the sandstone and granite cladding (the exterior walls are approximately 14 inches thick) and steel brace frames run from the basement to the ceiling of the fourth floor (attached to 60-foot vertical steel columns), tying the existing building together; the new fifth floor has a separate earthquake-proofing system.