Second phase worth about $80 million, could create 1,500 jobs
Kim Westad
Times Colonist
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Vancouver Island Technology Park will look and feel a lot more like a university campus than a multimillion-dollar business and science centre when it moves into its next phase of development, possibly by next year.
And the plan, approved by Saanich council last night to clapping from the crowd, will put the Markham Street park at the forefront of tech park design.
"It will be the first of its kind in Canada and set the standard for other technology parks," said Dale Gann, vice-president of the centre.
The technology park opened in 2002 at the former Glendale Hospital, just off West Saanich Road. The hospital underwent $12-million in renovations before reopening.
Five years later, the building is completely filled with 28 companies and 1,300 employees, covering 165,000 square feet. The University of Victoria bought the site in 2005 for $20.2-million, although the park is run and funded by the tenants.
The technology park has had plans to expand since it opened in 2002 with zoning allowing an increase to accommodate 415,000 square feet.
But just how that increase will be done has changed in the last five years, the result of learning what works on-site and visiting technology parks around the world.
People need to interact to share ideas. So instead of five separate self-contained buildings scattered on the site, divided by a road, the park will see three larger buildings, linked by atriums, covered walkways, internal hallways or skybridges. Gann also sees broad paved walks, plazas and grass quadrangles.
The change in architecture is more than just visual.
When space and buildings are designed to help people spend time together and look at the work environment as a community rather than just an office, there's a much higher likelihood of ideas and experiences being ex-changed, Gann said.
That can happen from simply seeing each other walking across a skybridge or eating in the cafeteria, to having business meetings walking community trails, rather than around a boardroom table.
"It's imperative, for our industry to grow, to create a physical environment that allows synergies, partnerships and collaboration. We're trying to use the physical architecture to create relationships," said an excited Gann.
With five separate buildings, some employees may never have seen people in the other buildings.
They might never know that a business or idea that could help their project is right next door. Doing something as seemingly simple as increasing the opportunities people have for interaction can change all that, Gann said.
When projects at the technology park include genome and cancer research, that can have significant impacts for the public, he said.
Precisely when the buildings will be constructed depends on leasing and demand, but Gann anticipates at least one building started within six months.
The total cost in today's dollars for the second phase is $80-milllion.
Another 1,500 jobs are expected when the second phase is complete.
Although council approved the change in plan, several grilled Gann about environmental standards.
When Glendale Hospital was revamped for the technology park, it was the first building in Canada to be awarded a gold rating under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building program.
Gann said any new buildings would be LEED certified, but wouldn't commit to the gold standard. Coun. Judy Brownoff, Vic Derman and Vicki Sanders were particularly disappointed with that.
"I'm not getting the same sense of leadership and direction that we had in the past. I'd like to hear you say, "We won't reach for LEED gold. We'll accomplish it,"" Derman said. The buildings may well reach that gold level, Gann said.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2007
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