June 22, 2016
The Northern BC Commercial Building Awards ceremony was held in Prince George’s Ramada Inn on June 2. Produced by the Business Examiner Peace Cariboo Skeena, one of four monthly news magazines in the province of British Columbia, the event featured twenty-three commercial buildings from Wonowon through Fort St. John, Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, on to Kitimat in the west, and from Prince George to Williams Lake.
“The criteria” for entry, to quote from Mark MacDonald, the publisher, “required a building or renovation project to complement the surrounding properties and area, be esthetically pleasing, include unique architectural features, and answer a specific development need within the community. The level of finish and choice in construction materials was also a determining factor.”
Mark MacDonald went on to comment: “the challenge of naming the finalists went to our team of independent judges, selected from the professional and development industries.”
The three judges were: Allan Beatty of Kent-Macpherson Appraisals in Central Okanagan; Allan Corbett, President of Paramount Realty in Burnaby and Chair of the Canadian Commercial Council of REALTORS; and Dave Kirk, partner in the appraisal and real estate consulting firm of Cunningham and Rivard, Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast.
Clearly, it could not have been an easy task to select the top of the best in the region.
My first thought is to compliment all those whose skills and foresight are represented in the entrants. All of the buildings were beautiful to the eye, functionally pleasing, and a credit to the engineers, architects, and builders.
My second thought is to take a wee bit of pride in the nine entrants from our great North East: from Wonowon we have the Halfway River Administration Building providing the Halfway River First Nations Administration with a new and up-to-date work place – on schedule and on budget – congratulations; Fort St. John is home to six of the nine submissions. They include Century 21 Energy Realty, Macro Industries, Rogers Building, Recon Ventures, NENAS Building Addition, and Passive House.
This trend to more attractive buildings to house business and industry is gratifying to see and a trend that we hope will continue. Perhaps this public recognition of community and business effort will be an encouragement.
The Calvin Kruk Centre for the Arts, the only entry from Dawson Creek, took the top Award, the Judges Choice, for the entire region. Congratulations, Dawson Creek.
From Fort St. John we had the only green-green entry, the Passive House, which claimed the Award of Excellence in its category – and with good reason. We were told, with a great deal of pride, that its solar energy heating system does the job. The building contains no furnace.
Now for Chetwynd: your new Chetwynd District Centre received the second-place Award of Merit for its beauty and functionality. We who work in the Centre are delighted that Chetwynd moved ahead and replaced the former District Office. We are also delighted with the transformation of the old office into its new life as the Visitor Centre.
Merlin Nichols, Mayor