b'PROJECT PROFILEdiscovered the benefits of having tenantsAnd the cherry on top? Rounding out thein Kelowna and very optimistic about occupy a usually vacant manufacturingbuildings accomplishments was SICAsgrowing our business. It appears well space in the evening. Theres traffic in andIndustrial Building Award, awarded tobe doing another similar building in the out of the building day and night, andthe company this past April at the SICAfuture. This will be right next door to 966, thats beneficial for everyone. Both theIndustry Awards of Excellence.and well probably expand the residential industrial and condominium tenants reallyunits in that one because of all thelike itand its just very positive for ourThe SICA award was inspiring, sayspositive feedback. company to have residential tenants occupyPoettcker. When your peers in the the fourth floor in the evenings. industry acknowledge what you wereIt seems that in todays world, trying to achieve, it means a lot innovation as a noun is as overusedThe building is adjacent to a sprawlingas creativity. But in this case, theresidential area up on the hill behind.especially being new to Kelowna andoriginal expectations for the building at It has no underground parking andtrying to establish ourselves in this market.966 Crowley Avenue have clearlywas constructed with a slab-on-gradeWere looking forward to going furtherbeen exceeded.foundation, pre-cast concrete walls and plenty of steel. All of the residential units are similar, with minor variationsthey are all one-bedroom plus den and take advantage of deck space overlookingthe city. We had very tight timelines on this project, Poettcker says. We poured the slab at the beginning of April 2021, and AEM moved into the lower two floors on January 3, 2022. There was a big push to get AEM locatedthey had to be open in January. Then AEM moved into their third-floor office on March 1, and our offices moved into the third and fourth floors on June 1the same day the residents moved into their suites. So we had a kind of progressive occupancy throughoutthe process. The unique concept brought its own set of challenges, including code-related issues that you wouldnt normally have to deal with, such as the need to ensure separation between sectors. Yes, it becomes a bit more expensive for things such as fire-rated regulations applying to the layers, but overall, it was practical from a cost perspective, says Poettcker. Because of the timing, the project wasnt immune to COVID-related issues, either. There were extra safety precautions on site, a labour market shortage in Kelowna and worldwide supply chain issuesthe same problems affecting virtually everyone across the country. But Poettcker emphasizes that the CitysTRS BUILDING cooperation was so extraordinary that thoseENVELOPE CORP.challenges were kept in check: We were worried about getting AEM into their spaceTOMTAR ROOFINGon time while other sections of the building& SHEET METAL LTD.were still under construction. And we ourselves incorporated a fairly major designUnmatched Industry Experience.change partway through construction because we expanded our own corporate office. We couldnt have done all of thisServing the Interior & Western Canadawithout the Citys ongoing collaboration.SICA CONSTRUCTION REVIEWFall 202325'