Press kit no. 865-66

Journalists, explore this publication-ready project. Create a free v2com media account to download high-resolution images.

Create a media account
Press kit - Press release - UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay

Press Kit | no. 865-66

UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters

Montreal, Canada

Lemay

Transformed by a transdisciplinary and sustainable approach, it’s now the first office building in Quebec to achieve Canada Green Building Council’s ZCB-Design v3 certification.

Montreal, Canada, 2024-07-19 - 

Completed in April 2024, what was once an industrial warehouse for automotive parts and accessories for cars and heavy vehicles is now the site of a 70,000-square-foot structure that embodies impactful levels of decarbonization.


Built 50 years ago, the Montreal headquarters for United Auto Parts (UAP) now looks ahead to another 50 years in the automotive industry. This time, it emphasizes greater sustainability for the environment and well-being of its employees, with a complete, ZCB-Design v3 certified redesign by the Canadian architecture and design firm Lemay.


The certification results from a comprehensive combination of the firm’s architecture, landscape, interiors, engineering, digital services, branding, and NET POSITIVE™ sustainability strategies. This major overhaul of an existing building has reduced the building’s overall energy consumption by 34% through environmentally positive choices in lighting, heating, cooling, and water retention systems, compared to a baseline building. It also translates to as much as $40,000 in energy savings per year, in addition to a 27% reduction in embodied carbon.


On the exterior, the structure balances an internationally resonant look and feel with a distinct design. Its form responds to its history and context with curved lines, cuts, and articulations reminiscent of those of an automobile. The surrounding grounds and parking lot were regreened to create a more inviting approach from the street level, with exterior rest areas for employees, better access to public transportation, and a reduction in the property’s heat island effects.


Inside, UAP’s headquarters features a bright, open array of collaborative and concentrative workspaces to foster innovation, learning, research, and development. Its campus-style layout accommodates as many as 260 users, skylit from one end of the building to the other, illuminating activity and bathing its central atrium in light.


A wide range of strategies were employed, including building envelope performance, HVAC systems optimization, renewable energy sources, and digital tools from Lemay’s energy specialists. Passive and bioclimatic strategies also formed a significant part of the project’s positive impacts, using natural solutions that extended to ventilation, airflow management, and orientation to paths of sunlight. Acclimatized to its environment and four-season context, the UAP headquarters’ energy consumption is reduced via natural cooling while improving comfort, where an automatic roof system allows hot air out while allowing cooler air to come in. 


“This redesign signals an important infrastructural shift in an industrial part of Montreal once historically known as the Pittsburgh of Canada," says Oscar Hernandez, Lemay’s Project Director, Energy Efficiency. "Most of all, it provides a clear pathway for what carbon-neutral, bioclimatic, and circular approach strategies can create when adapting existing industrial buildings for decarbonized realities.”


Leading a wave of essential change with a new, energy-efficient, ESG-focused, ZCB-Design v3 certified office, the UAP headquarters demonstrates the potential of design to transform the aging and often understated heritage and historic infrastructure surrounding the automotive industry, reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints.

Technical sheet

Architecture: Lemay

Landscape architecture: Lemay

Urban design: Lemay

Urban planning: Lemay

Interior design: Lemay

Graphic intervention and signage: Lemay

Sustainable strategy: Lemay

Mechanical and electrical engineering: Dallaire Consultants

Structural engineering: ELEMA experts-conseils

Civil engineering: Marchand Houle

General contractor: Les Entreprises QMD inc.

Lemay 

Lemay has been imagining new ways to create spaces that engage users and bring people together since 1957. Over 400 architects, designers, industry leaders, and change-makers work tirelessly to cultivate innovation in their own backyards and in communities around the world. Inspired and strengthened by transdisciplinary creativity, the firm has also developed its very own NET POSITIVETM approach to guide teams towards sustainable solutions that shape a better future. With the human experience at its heart, Lemay strives to design with empathy and create spaces to grow.

- 30 -

For more information

  1. lemay.com/
  2. lemay.com/projects/uap-montreal-head-...

Media contact

  • Lemay
  • Alena Crowne, Senior Media Relations Specialist, Marketing & Communications
  • acrowne@lemay.com
  • 514 932-5101

Attachments

Low-resolution images ~ 4.24 MB
High-resolution tif images ~ 577 MB
High-resolution jpg images ~ 92.6 MB

Terms and conditions

For immediate release

All photos must be published with proper credit. Please reference v2com as the source whenever possible. We always appreciate receiving PDF copies of your articles.

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 12.68 @ 300dpi ~ 8 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 13.35 @ 300dpi ~ 11 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 13.35 @ 300dpi ~ 12 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 12.73 @ 300dpi ~ 9.8 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 13.4 @ 300dpi ~ 11 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 12.58 @ 300dpi ~ 10 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Lemay
Photo credit: Lemay
Download

High-resolution image : 12.1 x 7.77 @ 300dpi ~ 5 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 13.35 @ 300dpi ~ 8.6 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 13.35 @ 300dpi ~ 12 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Lemay
Photo credit: Lemay
Download

High-resolution image : 13.09 x 7.85 @ 300dpi ~ 5.4 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 12.52 @ 300dpi ~ 14 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 12.16 @ 300dpi ~ 13 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 13.41 @ 300dpi ~ 15 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 13.35 @ 300dpi ~ 14 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Lemay
Photo credit: Lemay
Download

High-resolution image : 12.9 x 15.79 @ 300dpi ~ 9.9 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 15.18 @ 300dpi ~ 16 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 15.38 x 20.0 @ 300dpi ~ 15 MB

Press kit | 865-66 - Press release | UAP Montreal Head Office: An Industrial Automotive Warehouse Redesigned as Zero-Carbon Headquarters - Lemay - Commercial Architecture - Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Photo credit: Vincent Brillant
Download

Very High-resolution image : 20.0 x 13.28 @ 300dpi ~ 13 MB

You may also like...

Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - CEBRA Joins Lemay to Expand Shared International Ambitions - Lemay
Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Lemay Designs Bonduelle's New Headquarters in Brossard - Lemay
Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Lemay Unveils a New Brand Image - Lemay

Montréal, Canada, 2021-11-10

Lemay Unveils a New Brand Image

Lemay

Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Humaniti: Montreal’s first vertical city - Lemay

Montréal, Canada, 2021-09-22

Humaniti: Montreal’s first vertical city

Lemay

Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Lemay Designs 360° experience for Bromont Summit Chalet - Lemay
Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Espace 67: EXPO magic meets 2019 - Lemay

Montréal, Canada, 2019-10-15

Espace 67: EXPO magic meets 2019

Lemay

Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Rediscover Lemay: 60 Years of Visionary Design - Lemay
Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Ottawa’s Parliamentary Precinct, a jewel in the night - Lemay
Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - An identity-defining narrative for the Artopex showroom - Lemay
Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Lemay expands its talent pool to better serve its clients - Lemay
Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Footbridge Candiac, Québec - Lemay

Montreal, Canada, 2014-07-15

Footbridge Candiac, Québec

Lemay

Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Stinson Transport Center, Montréal Transit Society (STM) - Lemay
Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Astral Media - Lemay

Montreal, Canada, 2011-10-24

Astral Media

Lemay

Same company
Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - 780 Brewster - Lemay

Montreal, Canada, 2011-10-04

780 Brewster

Lemay

Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Ghaf Woods Experience Centre - aoe

Beijing, China, 2025-09-02

Ghaf Woods Experience Centre

aoe

Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - Sauska Tokaj Winery - BORD Architectural Studio

Budapest, Hungary, 2025-08-14

Sauska Tokaj Winery

BORD Architectural Studio

Newsroom | v2com-newswire | Newswire | Architecture | Design | Lifestyle - Press release - TANUKI NOBORU Bldg. - MOTIVE Inc.

Shibuya City, Japan, 2025-08-11

TANUKI NOBORU Bldg.

MOTIVE Inc.