Butler News

The TransX Group of Companies, based in Winnipeg, has one of the largest over-the-road trucking and intermodal service networks in North America, with terminals throughout Canada and the USA.

“Today, we’re the largest privately held trucking company in Canada,” observes Georges St. Arnaud, TransX vice president of eastern operations.

The company recently has built its new terminals using Butler® building systems for its cross-dock Facilities—buildings where freight is transferred from truck to truck and consolidated.

Butler building systems were chosen for these buildings because they can provide a long-lasting standing seam roof system with a 25-year warranty and structural systems with large, unobstructed clearspans. “It’s important that our cross docks have column-free space for fewer obstacles and safer operations,” St. Arnaud explains.

So when TransX needed to build an administrative office and truck stop facility for its Aberfoyle Regional Fleet near Guelph, Ontario, they chose Butler Builder® KMA Contracting Inc. in Guelph as their design/build contractor.

A Somewhat Different Facility

The project would be somewhat atypical—pairing a two-story office with a large maintenance facility instead of a cross-dock building. This time, both structures also would be built using Butler building systems. “For our office buildings, we normally use conventional construction,” says St. Arnaud.

The Aberfoyle Regional Fleet, TransX’s most rapidly growing division, is primarily a cross-border carrier serving the U.S. East Coast and Midwest. The administrative building for the new facility had to have offices on the first floor, with the second floor given over to safety training and rest and relaxation amenities for its drivers. While the drivers were showering, doing laundry, eating or enjoying some down time, both their trucks and trailers would be efficiently checked and serviced in the adjacent maintenance building.

St. Arnaud was very involved in the design/build process, meeting with Keith McEwen, president of KMA Contracting, and architect Montgomery Philip King, of Southampton, Ontario.

Natural Light and Open Plans

St. Arnaud wanted both buildings to receive plenty of natural light, and approved a design for the office building featuring bands of recessed bronze-tinted strip windows. The exterior walls were clad with the stucco-like TextureWall™ wall system, accented by a stone base and entry arch.

The Widespan™ structural system was specified to provide flexible space for an open office plan downstairs, and for configuring the drivers’ areas upstairs. A long-lasting MR-24® standing seam roof system with an insulating value of R-40 was chosen to keep the building comfortable and energy efficient.

The adjacent maintenance building was designed with the same structural and roof systems and clad with a Shadowall™ wall system. The 80- by 240-foot building was given acrylic overhead doors down both long sides, letting in plenty of light for the mechanics and providing one-way drive-through space for eight tractors and six trailers to be serviced at once. A central parts/administration area with a mezzanine was designed to serve tractor repair on one side and trailer repair on the other.

Fast Construction, Good Performance

St. Arnaud had reason to be pleased with the speed of systems construction when the project was held up for many months over building permits. When the permits came through, KMA Contracting already had all the steel on site and the foundations completed and ready to go. They were able to finish the office building in just a little over two months, and the maintenance facility a month after that.

“They did a good job, especially considering the initial delays and winter conditions,” says St. Arnaud.

Both buildings are functioning very well. The terminal runs around the clock, 365 days a year. The up-to-the-minute maintenance facility is able not only to service the fleet vehicles and trailers, but also to track the fuel, grease and oil used for each. It serves as a trailer certification and safety station for the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario as well.

St. Arnaud and the employees are pleased with the new office facility. “It is very nice looking—very open,” he observes.

“I’m sure it will be long-lasting, because of the materials and building systems that we have selected. Our drivers find the building modern, well equipped and comfortable. They like it very much.”