RFQ Issued for Wood Innovation and Design Centre
Prince George, B.C. – The Province has issued a Request for Qualifications to design and build the Wood Innovation and Design Centre.
The RFQ seeks eligible firms to design and construct the WIDC with a minimum height of six storeys. It is expected that three firms will be shortlisted and be asked to provide proposals to the government through a collaborative Request for Proposals that will begin in July of this year.
Construction is expected to be completed by fall of 2014.
To be built on the site formerly occupied by the Prince George Hotel at the corners of George Street and 5th Avenue, the multi-storey iconic wood building will showcase British Columbia’s expertise and global reputation as a leader in wood construction and design, and engineered wood products.
Once complete, the building will house office space for provincial economic development and industry use, as well as academic and research programming with the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). It will focus on advancing B.C.’s expertise in wood-related products, and it will highlight new and innovative wood building products and techniques.
Last September, the Province issued a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEOI) document to get input from the design and construction industries regarding building design, construction and procurement attributes. The Province received 34 responses to the RFEOI from a wide variety of companies, including B.C.-based and international organizations.
Comments
They should just work with McLeod and build a wood hotel and condo.
This is crazy, they don’t even know what they are going to use the building for. Why are we tossing all this money at a monument when we can’t get our roads fixed?
“It will focus on advancing B.C.’s expertise in wood-related products, and it will highlight new and innovative wood building products and techniques”
Of couse all of these new products and techniques will be manufactured and used overseas where our raw logs are being exported to.
Would really like to see the over all plan, for an investment of 50 to 100 million starting in 2014????? more money they dont have or really have to concern them selfs about after 2013 sounds like elecion is closer than we think.
If they sign a contract by the end of this year, it would be difficult to undo after a possible switch in government. Of course, if the NDP cuts all the departments that might go in there, then it is doomed to failure and may be used in that political fashion by the NDP.
Oh, I so love the system of government that we have sunk to. I knew when I came out here that BC politics was a bit crazier than back east, but this is totally ridiculous.
Anyway, it could also happen that an NDP government could increase the sizes of ministries as well as universities and colleges and up the taxes in order to fund all that. Then they will be very happpy with having a large enough building to house all the extra bodies. :-)
“It will focus on advancing B.C.’s expertise in wood-related products, and it will highlight new and innovative wood building products and techniques”
Well, we could use it for the Olympics Headquarters first…don’t forget the amount of “tourist” that will come to see it. ;)
I think that this building as it is presently being proposed is nothing more than a bunch of political BS.
Firstly lets look at some of the buildings we have built in Prince George in the past number of years, that were built with concrete, and alum, or steel studs.
1. CN Station on 1st Avenue
2. Duchess Park School
3. Cancer Clinic
4. New Building going up at 5th and Patterson.
5. Will the new police station use any wood in the actual construction, or will it just put a few planks on the outside to make it look like wood construction, much like the police station on 5th and Ospika.
Im sure there are more, however if we are a leader in wood construction and design, it is rather baffling that we dont use wood ourselves.
As I said in a previous post. If we are going to spend this kind of money on a wood building, it should be restricted to 6 stories, and should include the Performing Arts Centre, the Farmers Market, and whatever else it needs to make it viable. We could do all of this with the $75 Million they are planning to spend, and basically kill three birds with one stone.
Will any gas taxing, tax raising, road expanding, politicians come forward and make a proposal that will fill a number of needs and requests, or will they hide behind their secretaries, or in their board rooms, and allow the wasting of tax dollars to continue.
Gus…….Whats your view on making the wood innovation building a multi purpose building????
“The multi-storey iconic wood building will showcase British Columbia’s expertise and global reputation as a leader in wood construction and design, and engineered wood products”
Huh? I thought we were a leader in exporting dimensional lumber of the non-value added variety? We should really leave the innovation work for the Europeans, they seem to be the ones who have a handle on that.
Oh wait, I get it now, we have the build the centre BEFORE we can start to innovate. Perfect plan!
Comments for this article are closed.