Engineering One of Ontario’s Tallest Selective VNA Systems at 61.67 ft Tall

When Maple Reinders was hired to design and expand a Vaughan facility for Lineage, the largest cold storage REIT in the world, the project required more than just a standard racking installation. The building would be purpose-built around the storage system, with every detail designed to maximize density in a cold storage environment where space costs add up quickly.

Watch this project come to life:

Challenges Faced

Extreme Height Requirements: 

At 61.67 ft, the system would be the tallest selective VNA installation we had ever built and one of the tallest in Ontario. This would also be the first time the client operated free-standing lift trucks at this height, introducing new considerations for equipment capability and operational safety.

Cost-Effective Density:

Cold storage operations demand maximum density because refrigerated space is expensive to build and operate. The client needed to store as many pallets as possible within 51,154 sq ft while maintaining 80-inch aisles for equipment access. The challenge was finding ways to increase pallet positions within the footprint without driving up material costs or compromising structural integrity.

Design-Build Coordination:

With the building being designed to suit this racking system, tight coordination and communication was essential. Layout decisions would affect systems like HVACs, ducts, and sprinklers throughout the facility.

Solutions

Early Collaboration in the Design-Build Process

We were brought into the project early enough to provide racking layout drawings before the building design was finalized. This allowed Maple Reinders to modify the structure around the racking rather than adapting the racking to fit an existing building. Structural elements and sprinkler systems were all adjusted to accommodate the storage layout, maximizing density from the start.

Structural VNA System Built for Height and Cold Storage

We designed a single selective VNA system using structural racking. The choice of structural over roll-formed was deliberate: the height, cold storage environment, and need for strength and repairability in high-abuse conditions all pointed to structural as the right specification.

The system reaches 61.67 ft with 80-inch aisles, delivering over 11,500 pallet positions across the facility. The clear height of 62 ft gave just enough room to build tall while meeting operational requirements for the swing reach trucks.

Bay Spacing Optimization

During design, we identified an opportunity to increase capacity without expanding the footprint. By adjusting bay spacing from a standard 96 inches to 92 inches, we added nearly 500 pallet positions to the system, which was a net gain of 4%. Small dimensional changes compound across large installations, and this adjustment delivered significant capacity gains without requiring additional material or space.  

Phased Delivery and Installation Coordination

Given the scale of the project, logistics required close coordination with the installation team. Deliveries were phased to prevent overloading any single phase of the installation. Our project manager maintained constant contact, accessing the site early to check details, address discrepancies, and solve problems before they happened.

Results and Impact

The project finished a more than a week ahead of schedule, a result of the collaborative approach between Maple Reinders, Lineage, and our team. By addressing structural conflicts during the design phase rather than during installation, the project maintained momentum and stayed on budget.

For Lineage, the system delivers the high-density cold storage capacity needed to operate efficiently in a market where refrigerated space is expensive, without expanding their footprint.

This project reinforced the value of being involved early. When storage planning happens before construction begins, the result is a fully optimized system, smoother installation, and fewer surprises. For operations planning new facilities or expansions, bringing us into the conversation early creates options that disappear once construction is underway.