b'COVER STORYThe L-shaped building will be comprised of three separate areas:The West Kootenay Gateway Visitors Centre;The North Wing, housing the MercerCelgar Board Room, the Castlegar & District Chamber of Commerce, an economic development program, Destination Castlegar and a variety of business-essential partners; and The South Wing, home to office and co-working spaces, a public lounge and pocket kitchen, soundproof telephone booths and other community spaces.Outside its doors, The Confluence will sport a garden, picnic area and outdoor gathering space that will be connected by walkways and lighting.A SHOWPIECE FORMASS TIMBERBeyond bringing a new multi-purpose asset to West Kootenay, The Confluence will be a role model for mass timber and Passive House builds. Designed by local firm Cover Architectural Collaborative Inc., the facility is being built primarily with cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels. The material will be used to create the interior walls, roof, cantilevered stairsYou have construction risk. and partition walls. Outside, mass timber will form the tall exterior walls meant toWork with the experts.invoke the surrounding West Kootenay Selkirk Mountains.The mass timber is being supplied by Kalesnikoff Lumber from its mass timber production facility, which is located 15 minutes from the site. The material will be prefabricated and shipped to the site, saving construction time and lowering the projects environmental footprint.Overall, says Lukas Armstrong, Principal and Architect with Cover Architectural Collaborative Inc., Mass timber has a number of valuable attributes that make it a construction material of choice for the right project. It contains less embodiedRosy Mounce, Construction Insurance, Salmon Arm Talk to the Acera Insurance carbon than steel and concrete, and canMorly Bishop, Construction Insurance, Kamloops construction team today!be cost effective when priced against theseChris Nielsen, BCCA Group Benefits, Kelowna 1 800 670 1877lcapricmw.camaterials. Moreover, installing the massAngela McKerlich, Contract Surety, Kelownatimber panels can happen quite rapidly, speeding up the construction process andMatt Arruda,Construction Insurance, Kelownareducing labour costs on site. Chantell Arsenault, Group Benefits, Kelowna Mass timbers natural thermal benefitsRyan Fairburn, Construction Insurance, Vernonand carbon-storing properties will also SICA CONSTRUCTION REVIEWSpring 202325'