Advicas Group Consultants Inc.

Office Administration at Advicas

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:27:00 +0000

Laurel Regan

Back in October Advicas said goodbye – well, sort of – to long-time employee Laurel Regan, Office Manager, who left Victoria and moved to Windsor, Ontario. Thanks to the wonder of the internet, however, Laurel continues to work for Advicas on a part-time basis from her home in Windsor, with her main responsibilities concentrating on the areas of finance and human resources.

Laurel’s office hours are currently Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (PST), and she is available by e-mail or Skype during that time. Her direct line in Victoria (250-995-5421) remains available for incoming voice mail messages, and is checked regularly during her office hours.

Barbara Shaw

We are very pleased to welcome our newest employee, Barbara Shaw, who has joined Advicas as part-time Office Manager (Office Operations). Barbara’s competence and background in the design and construction industry will be a great asset to Advicas, and her presence in the Victoria office will enable the rest of the team to dedicate their focus to providing cost and sustainability consulting services to Advicas clients.

Barbara’s office hours are currently Monday and Thursday (all day), Tuesday (morning), and Friday (afternoon). She is available during that time via phone (direct line 250-995-5424) or e-mail – or if you’d like to welcome her in person, drop by the Advicas office and say hello!

Holiday greeting & office hours

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:44:00 +0000

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Andy Kesteloo Memorial Student Project Award

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:01:00 +0000

From the CaGBC web site:

The Andy Kesteloo Memorial Student Project Award is in memory of Andy Kesteloo, a visionary green building advocate, who with humour, insight and passion shared his commitment for a sustainable earth.

The objective of the Award is to recognize a student project that demonstrates leadership, innovation, inspiration and a creative vision for the future of sustainable design in the field of green building and communities. This competition challenges students to explore innovative, realistic design of the built environment thinking globally, acting locally to achieve a durable, efficient, comprehensive design that is easy to maintain and operate while being adaptable for future generations.

The deadline for student applications is April 23rd, 2012; winners will receive a $2,000 cash award, free conference registration and more.

Please click here for eligibility criteria and the submission information.

Primary Schools for Africa Gala Evening

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Thu, 26 May 2011 20:43:00 +0000

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Goodbye, hello!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Thu, 26 May 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Advicas gives a friendly wave goodbye to our former co-worker Jackie Kanyuk. Jackie has moved on to life in the big city of Vancouver where we are confident she will find a wealth of exciting experiences. We’ll miss her passion and enthusiasm and wish her all the best in her new ventures!

At the same time we extend a warm welcome to our newest employee, Christine Newton, who has joined the Advicas team as Office Manager, Office Operations. Christine works with us in the afternoons, taking over part of Laurel Regan's current responsibilities (stay tuned for further updates!). We look forward to getting to know Christine as she settles into her new role at Advicas.

2011 Andy Kesteloo Memorial Student Project Award Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:16:00 +0000

Advicas wishes to congratulate the 2011 Andy Kesteloo Memorial Student Project Award Winners!

The winning project was “Galt City Core Office Building” submitted by Alita Jones and Chad Magier of Conestoga College.

A Special Mention went to “Retrofit Typology” submitted by Lorin Bordeville and Josie Smith of Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

More information about the projects can be found here.

Holiday greeting & office hours

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:31:00 +0000

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Advicas and GreenStart

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:23:00 +0000

Advicas is pleased to have been accepted into the Capital Regional District and City Green Solutions pilot GreenStart program.

On December 3rd we had a site visit from the GreenStart partners who reviewed our office practices for energy efficiency; water conservation; waste reduction and pollution prevention; sustainable purchasing; transportation; and staff and community engagement. This week we received a report summarizing their findings.

We were pleased to see acknowledgement for the areas they noticed we are already “walking our talk”:

An office recycling program is in place and includes mixed paper, cardboard, plastics, glass and cans.
Paper recycle bins are located near every work station.
Computers are turned off at night.
Most paper purchased has recycled content.
Fair trade coffee, tea and sugar is purchased and available in kitchen area.
Some low impact cleaning products are available in the kitchen area.
The office location is close to a number of bus routes.
There is secure bike parking available for staff.
Staff are compensated for transit passes.
Billing was switched to paperless during the past year.
Office supplies are delivered on a 48-hour service (rather than overnight) to maximize transportation efficiency.

Now we’re excited to review their recommendations and commit to implementing even more sustainable practices. (Actually, telling people about what we’re up to via this blog is GreenStart’s recommendation #6! We’re already getting going on checking items off the list!)

Click here for more information about the GreenStart program.

Remembrance Day

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:49:00 +0000

PLEASE NOTE: The Advicas offices will be closed for Remembrance Day on Thursday, November 11, 2010.

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:18:00 +0000

PLEASE NOTE: The Advicas offices will be closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Monday, October 11, 2010.

Happy Labour Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:22:00 +0000

PLEASE NOTE: The Advicas offices will be closed for the Labour Day holiday on Monday, September 6, 2010.

Happy BC Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:57:00 +0000

PLEASE NOTE: The Advicas offices will be closed for the provincial BC Day holiday on Monday, August 2, 2010.

Happy Canada Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:45:00 +0000

PLEASE NOTE:
The Advicas offices
will be closed for the holiday
on
Thursday, July 1, 2010.

Happy Canada Day!

CaGBC Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:41:00 +0000

Wendy Macdonald, one of our Sustainability Consultants, had a wonderful time at the CaGBC “Performance Matters” conference in Vancouver (June 8-10, 2010).

Wendy was busy at the conference meeting new people, reconnecting with old friends, sitting with the Kesteloo family at the Gala dinner and having the pleasurable experience of meeting Shannon Bone, the recipient of the Andy Kesteloo Memorial Student Project Award. Wendy filled her head with LEED®: Existing Buildings – Operations & Maintenance, Green-Up, and the Measurement and Verification Credit EAc5. To top it all off, she left the conference reinspired and hopeful after hearing talks by Vivian Loftness and Bill Reid.

Stay tuned for selected conference presentations posted on the CaGBC web site.

New LEED® Canada 2009 Rating Systems open June 21st!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:53:00 +0000

From the CaGBC:

The CaGBC is happy to announce that registration for LEED® Canada for New Construction and Major Renovations (NC) 2009 and LEED® Canada Core and Shell Development (CS) 2009 will open June 21, 2010.

Projects registering as of June 21, 2010 will be registered under the 2009 versions.*

(Complete announcement here.)

* Please note that projects registered prior to June 21, 2010 will be registered under the “old” system, but will have the option to be switched to the new rating system. In addition, there are some designated credits which LEED® will allow projects registered prior to June 21st to “cherry pick” which compliance path they wish to use (old or new system). More information is available through the CaGBC web site.

If you would like further information on our LEED® coordination services, please contact us.

Living Building Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:10:00 +0000

Brian Poletz of the Advicas sustainability team attended a day-long Living Building Challenge workshop in Vancouver on Thursday, April 8, 2010.

Brian's review:

The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is attempting to raise the bar for green buildings in North America. It defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment and acts to reduce the gap between current limits and ideal solutions. The LBC provides a framework for design, construction, and the symbiotic relationship between people and all aspects of the built environment. This framework can be applied to all types of developments such as a single building, a park, a college campus or even a complete neighbourhood community.

The LBC is comprised of 20 simple and profound Imperatives that must be met for any type of project. These Imperatives are performance-based with targeted outcomes that define the success of a project. The challenge is comprised of seven performance areas, or "Petals" - Site, Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity and Beauty - and these petals are subdivided into the 20 Imperatives. The two rules that govern the LBC are: 1) all Imperatives assigned to a project type (typology) are mandatory; and 2) certification is based on actual, rather than modeled or anticipated performance. The four typologies identified by the LBC are Renovation, Landscape or Infrastructure, Building, and Neighbourhood; each are assigned the appropriate Imperatives.

It is my understanding that the LBC will recognize and certify groups of "Petals." Petal grouping designation must include at least one of the most difficult petals, i.e., water, energy, or materials, and their associated imperatives.

My impression of the LBC is that it provides a more holistic and more imaginative approach to the built environment, and accounts for some of the sustainability intangibles that other rating systems do not address. It’s interesting that the Imperatives include Human Scale & Humane Places, Beauty & Spirit, and Inspiration & Education, all of which are very important to the sustainability equation, but are very subjective in a performance-based framework. The LBC attempts to connect all the dots using an expansive, intent-based framework. In my opinion, the process will take a concerted effort, vision, and fortitude by each and every person, primarily led by the owner, involved on a Living Building Challenge project.

The Advicas team looks forward to the opportunity to a play a role in a Living Building in the future.

Release of LEED® Canada 2009 Rating Systems

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:29:00 +0000

Advicas congratulates the CaGBC on their pre-release of the LEED® Canada for New Construction and Major Renovations 2009 and LEED® Canada for Core and Shell Development 2009 rating systems!

We were happy to have played our part through Wendy Macdonald’s involvement on the Energy and Engineering Technical Advisory Group (E&E TAG).

A reminder to project teams to register projects prior to June 2010 if you want to have the option of certifying your project using the current system.

For more information on the LEED® Canada 2009 Rating Systems, click here.

If you would like further information on our LEED® coordination services, please contact us.

Holiday office closure

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 18:42:00 +0000

Note: Our office will be closed for the 2010 Easter break from Friday, April 2 to Monday, April 5 inclusive, and will reopen at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 6.

Earth Hour 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:54:00 +0000

Click here for more information
and to get involved in Earth Hour 2010!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:01:00 +0000

Members of the Advicas sustainability team (Jackie Kanyuk, Brian Poletz and Wendy Macdonald) all attended a day-long workshop on Monday, March 8, 2010 to learn about the recently released LEED® Canada: Existing Buildings-Operations & Maintenance (EB:O&M) 2009 rating system.

As per the CaGBC website:

The LEED® Canada EB:O&M 2009 rating system helps building owners and operators measure operations, improvements and maintenance on a consistent scale, with the goal of maximizing operational efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts. LEED® Canada EB:O&M 2009 addresses whole-building cleaning and maintenance issues (including chemical use), recycling programs, exterior maintenance programs, and systems upgrades.

LEED® Canada EB:O&M certification is unlike any other LEED® certification in that it focuses on the operation and maintenance phase of the building lifecycle rather than the construction phase. Buildings may be operated and maintained for decades, and so under this rating system they must file for recertification at least once every five years to maintain their LEED® Canada EB:O&M status.

As recertification requires demonstration of compliance for the entire period of time since the last certification, LEED® Canada EB:O&M 2009 represents an ongoing commitment by building operators to continuously assess the environmental performance of their buildings.

The Advicas team is looking forward to the opportunity to work with building Owners/Operators to determine if this system is right for them.

If you would like further information on our LEED® coordination services, please contact us.

Bon Voyage!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:07:00 +0000

A couple of personnel updates...

Ardeane Maharaj (one of our cost consultants) will be away from the office during February and will return on March 8, 2010. He will not have access to e-mail or phone messages for the duration of his absence, so if you have any queries on his projects please contact John Granger (250.995.5427).

Wendy Macdonald (one of our sustainability consultants) is excited about being in India for the month of February, returning to the office on March 2, 2010. Thanks to our team approach at Advicas, sustainability projects will be in the capable hands of Brian Poletz (250.995.5425) and Jackie Kanyuk (250.995.5424) during Wendy’s absence.

P.S. Did you know that there is a LEED® India? Check out their web site!

Challenge accepted and extended!

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Earlier this week Advicas heard from Karen Hillel (Hillel Architecture Inc.) who issued a friendly challenge to a group of local consultants in the building industry to contribute to earthquake relief in Haiti via ShelterBox Canada.

ShelterBox Canada is a registered Canadian charity and qualifies for matching of donations by the Government of Canada. But what do they do, and what is a ShelterBox? From their web site:

What does ShelterBox do?

Our mission is to deliver immediate relief to victims of natural and other disasters anywhere around the world.

Disasters to which we have responded include earthquakes, hurricanes, wars, floods, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and typhoons.

We achieve our mission by providing rugged 10-person tents to be used as emergency accommodation and other survival essentials as required.

As of January 2007, ShelterBox has sent aid to 31 different countries, providing shelter for approaching 500,000 people.

What’s in a ShelterBox?

Each ShelterBox is a large, rugged, green plastic container that holds a 10-person tent and a range of other equipment. In general, typical box contents could include:

Thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets

Waterproof ponchos and bin bags

A multi-fuel stove that can burn anything from diesel to old paint!

Cooking pans, utensils, bowls and mugs

Collapsible water containers and water purification tablets

A basic tool kit – hammer, axe, saw, pliers, hoe head, trenching shovel, rope etc.

A small, children’s pack containing drawing books, crayons, pens etc.

However, a range of equipment is kept in stock. This allows ShelterBox to be flexible and adjust the contents of the box according to local conditions and what is most urgently needed.

We also have sleeping bags that can be used in particularly cold conditions.

Sometimes – particularly if other resources are available locally and the overwhelming need is for shelter – we will just send tents and pack two in each box.

Once assembled, boxes will be banded and sealed ready for transit. They are also individually numbered so each box can be tracked and donors can know its final destination.

We are pleased to say that Advicas has risen to the challenge and purchased a ShelterBox to be used specifically as aid to those who are in need after the earthquake in Haiti.

Now Advicas extends the challenge to you! We invite you to take the time to visit the ShelterBox Canada web site and consider how you too might get involved.

Thank you to Karen Hillel for her involvement and for making us aware of this unique opportunity!

Quick Stats - LEED® Certified projects

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:09:00 +0000

As of January 19, 2010, the CaGBC LEED® projects database reports that a total of 24 projects in the province of British Columbia have successfully achieved LEED® certification through the CaGBC. Advicas team members are proud to have provided LEED® coordination services on a significant proportion of these projects, including:

British Columbia:

6 of the 24 LEED® Certified projects
6 of the 18 LEED® Canada-NC projects

Vancouver Island:

5 of the 8 LEED® Certified projects
5 of the 7 LEED® Canada-NC projects

Victoria:

4 of the 6 LEED® Certified projects
4 of the 5 LEED® Canada-NC projects

If you would like further information on our LEED® coordination services, please contact us.

Remembering

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:50:00 +0000

Advicas staff remembers Andy Kesteloo today in particular. Andy, you were a blessing to the industry and our lives and you are missed.

In Loving Memory of Andy Kesteloo
January 25, 1956 – January 15, 2007

Co-worker, Mentor, Family, Friend.

Disaster relief in Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Advicas Group Consultants Inc.) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:44:00 +0000

In light of the recent devastation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti following the January 12, 2010 earthquake, you may be interested in the following list of (primarily Canadian) resources compiled on the CBC web site:

"Canada for Haiti"