New Tech Park Center Opens, Receives Green Building Award

From Site Selection magazine, July 2002

COVER STORY (SIDEBAR)

New Tech Park Center Opens,
Receives Green Building Award

BC Buildings Corp., developer of The Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Park in British Columbia, is one of only three recipients of the U.S. Green Building Council's Gold Award for leadership in environmental and energy design.

With the help of federal and provincial funding totaling US$384,000, the $7.6-million business center at the 14-hectare (35-acre) Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Park in Saanich officially opened in April.
"The business center in the Vancouver Island Technology Park is exactly the type of facility Canadians need to foster business excellence and take on the world with their products and ideas," said Environment Minister and Victoria MP David Anderson of the 15,300-sq.-m. (165,000-sq.-ft.) building. "The high-tech industry is the third-largest employer in the Greater Victoria area, and the investment in the technology park will ensure that it continues to grow and the region prosper."
"The funding for the center is in keeping with our New Era vision of making British Columbia a global magnet for high-tech investment, growth and job creation," added Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Ida Chong.
The U.S. Green Buildings Council presented a Gold Award for leadership in environmental and energy design to representatives of the BC Buildings Corp., the park's owner and manager - one of only three Gold Awards to have been issued worldwide. The other two projects attaining that standard are the Cambria office building constructed for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection and the Ecotrust Natural Capital Center, based in Portland, Ore. The award recognizes the green adaptations within the buildings, grass and gravel parking lots, storm-water recovery systems, power purchased from methane gas conversions, public transportation agreements, bike paths and landscaping. While some might view the honor as a pie-in-the-sky laurel, it is helping to position the center in the real-world marketplace.
"The federal-provincial contribution to the business center indicates the importance of building a flexible centre that provides market-rate space and equipment that is open to the entire business community," said VIATeC president Doug Taylor. "This tech park is a huge benefit for students and new technology firms moving into research and development."

Smaller Companies, Smaller Costs

While the 180,000 sq. ft. (16,722 sq. m.) once occupied by downsized JDS Uniphase at the nearby Keating Industrial Park is being marketed to larger clients, the Tech Park is targeting small to medium-sized businesses. To date, five leases have been signed with high-tech companies: Epic Biosonics, which has developed a prosthetic device designed to restore hearing to the deaf; ETraffic Solutions, creator of software for Internet delivery of educational systems; Jasco Research, an acoustic research firm; Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, which develops high-value medicines for rare medical disorders; and Omega Biosonics, which extracts phyto-nutrients from botanicals for health-care products. The Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Society (VIATeC), Camosun College, the University of Victoria and Royal Roads University have partnership agreements that open the door to learning opportunities for students and research and development companies.

“The funding for the center is in keeping with our New Era vision of making British Columbia a global magnet for high-tech investment, growth and job creation.”

–Ida Chong,
Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA

"We are very encouraged by the level of interest," says Sandy Beaman, general manager of Vancouver Island Technology Park. "We are starting to be contacted by companies in the U.S. We offer them a tremendous advantage, given the exchange rate, the cost of real estate, and the highly educated work force we have here. One local company told us they can do research here for 30 percent of the cost in the U.S."
The bricks and mortar is going up on a solid foundation of broader government reforms designed to draw more companies to the province. Minister of State for Deregulation Kevin Falcon has pledged to reduce the government's regulatory burden by one third. Since last summer, over 2,500 regulatory requirements have been eliminated - including 1,504 that vanished with the repeal of the Skills Development and Fair Wage Act.
"In addition, ministries have taken innovative approaches to streamlining and eliminating other barriers to competition," Falcon said in April. Amended statutes include changes to the Mineral Tenure Act that allow geological assessment forms to be submitted in digital form, as well as streamlining the Ministry of Forests approval process for forest development plans.

– Adam Bruns

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