U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on imports from Canada will cause major damage to the B.C. industrial real estate development sector, says a leading design-build construction firm executive. “They’re going to be disastrous, guaranteed,” said Josh Gaglardi, founder and president of Orion Construction, in an interview with Connect CRE Canada. Read the full article here.
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Offering fair wages, and opportunities for advancement and training are major magnets that construction companies can use to attract employees to their firms. British Columbia has known for years that a shortage of skilled trades workers was on its way, and it has arrived – along with a growing construction industry. Growing companies have been putting their best foot forward to get the brightest and best to join their teams, and the result is recognizable strong opportunities for a healthy economic future for new recruits to the industry. Read the full article here.
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A new multi-tenant industrial building is planned for the Bridgeport area near Richmond’s Canada Line hub. Orion Construction has applied to the City of Richmond, on behalf of the property owner, to develop two industrial buildings at 9800 Van Horne Way, near River Drive. Read the full article here.
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City Wide Produce has broken ground on a new 26,680 square foot facility in Campbell Heights in Surrey. The new building will be equipped with temperature and humidity-controlled zones for fresh produce and will allow City Wide to increase the volume and variety of produce offerings to retailers and restaurants in Western Canada. Read the full article here.
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In collaboration with Orion Construction, City Wide Produce broke ground on a new 26,680 sq. ft. facility in Campbell Heights. This purpose-built facility is designed to strengthen the city’s agritech sector, triple its workforce as the organization grows, and expand access to fresh produce in the region. Read the full article here.
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City Wide Produce has broken ground on a new 26,680 sq ft facility in Surrey, B.C. The facility will be located in the Campbell Heights area of Surrey. The new building will be equipped with temperature and humidity-controlled zones for fresh produce and will allow City Wide to increase the volume and variety of produce offerings to retailers and restaurants in Western Canada. Read the full article here.
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Eight winners were saluted during the 26th annual Surrey Business Excellence Awards on Thursday (Nov. 7) including the founder and CEO of Langley-based Orion Construction. Joshua Gaglardi was named Business Person of the Year as boss of Orion, which has constructed several buildings in Surrey including Nanak Foods’ new food processing facility, in Campbell Heights. Read the full article here.
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Consider the numbers and upward trajectory alone as signposts for Orion Construction’s success. Founded in 2018 with just four employees, the company now boasts over 80 industry professionals and counting. And in looking ahead, the Orion team will head up over three million square feet of construction projects in the next 24 months across Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan. Read the full article here.
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The City of Surrey is taking significant steps to expedite housing delivery and enhance the development approval process through innovative new initiatives. During the Regular Council Meeting recently, Surrey City Council approved a one-year pilot project aimed at simplifying the Development Permit process for houseplexes and approved the terms of reference for a Development Approval Process Improvement Task Force to further streamline approvals across the city. Read the full article here.
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Coming from a family of builders and developers, Joshua Gaglardi started gaining experience in the industry at an early age. He cleaned construction sites as a kid and always knew that he wanted to one day be an entrepreneur in the same space. After a stint at Northland Properties – which was founded by his uncle, Bob Gaglardi – the younger Gaglardi went off on his own and joined Integrated Construction before realizing his dream in 2018 by launching Orion Construction in Langley. Read the full article here.
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The City of Surrey is taking significant steps to expedite housing delivery and enhance the development approval process through innovative new initiatives. Surrey City Council on Monday approved a one-year pilot project aimed at simplifying the Development Permit process for houseplexes and approved the terms of reference for a Development Approval Process Improvement Task Force to further streamline approvals across the city. Read the full article here.
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Construction of a 400,000 square foot business park by developer Cedar Coast is underway in Mission, B.C. Cade Barr Business Park, at the intersection of Cade Barr Street and Dewdney Trunk Road, will be Mission’s largest-ever industrial project. It is Cedar Coast’s first development project in Mission, and represents an over 25 percent growth in Mission’s light industrial base, while also being the first new employment land development in Cedar Valley. Cade Barr Business Park will be built in phases by Orion Construction to alleviate Metro Vancouver’s industrial space shortage. Read the full article here.
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Cedar Coast, a developer in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, has started work on a two-building industrial project in Richmond near the Vancouver airport that will deliver almost a quarter-million square feet of strata product into the market. Preloading of the site has just started, and pre-sales are now under way, Aaron Fedora, vice-president, development with Cedar Coast, said. Orion Construction is building the 44-unit project called Bridgeport Central, located at Van Horne Way and River Drive. Read the full article here.
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The City of Langford, Vancouver and U.S.-based developer Cedar Coast and Orion Construction kicked off construction of a new Langford development located at 797 Revilo Place. Read the full article here.
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A new housing project under construction in Langley will join a series of other BC Builds project that aim to offer market-rate and below-market rental housing. Read the full article here.
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Having weathered significant inflation and elevated lending rates, growth in government-funded ICI and infrastructure projects, and incentives in the housing market have Canadian contractors feeling good as 2024 unfolds. Read the full article here.
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Nearly 1,200 rental homes are coming soon for individuals, seniors and families with middle incomes in the Township of Langley and Burnaby, through new BC Builds projects. Read the full article here.
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Surrey is growing so fast it’s slated to become British Columbia’s largest city by the end of the decade. Vancouver’s estimated population this year is 737,216, while Surrey’s is 684,485. In 2029, the projected populations of Vancouver and Surrey will be 780,075 and 785,619, respectively. Read the full article here.
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When construction company president Joshua Gaglardi watched a live tracker show a wildfire approaching a warehouse his company built, it was a wake-up call that climate change poses an urgent risk to his business. Luckily for Mr. Gaglardi, the fire stopped short of the building in Kelowna, B.C., but it served as a stark reminder that extreme weather events are becoming more common and severe. “It really opened my eyes,” he says. “We should be doing our best as builders and developers and representatives of our clients to mitigate any unforeseen incidents like this.” Read the full article here.
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Metro Vancouver has had one of the strongest industrial markets in the country for numerous years now. Not dissimilar from what we’ve seen in residential development, strong demand for industrial space has brought increased competition among developers, and it stands to reason that competition often results in excellence and innovation. Read the full article here.
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More and more shopping centres across Metro Vancouver are set for redevelopment, with the latest being the Langley Mall in the City of Langley. The Langley Mall is located at 5501 204 Street and 20300 Douglas Crescent (occupied by a standalone Tim Hortons), near 203 Street and the Fraser Highway, the site of the upcoming Langley City Centre Station that will be constructed as part of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension. Read the full article here.
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A major long-term redevelopment of Langley Mall near SkyTrain Expo Line’s future easternmost terminus station is in sight. Local developer Cedar Coast and Orion Construction have submitted an application to the City of Langley to redevelop the nine-acre property of 5501 204 Street — situated at the southeast corner of the intersection of 203 Street and Douglas Crescent. Read the full article here.
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A massive redevelopment of the Langley Mall and next-door Tim Hortons property near Langley City Hall would build six residential high-rises over 10 to 20 years, with commercial space that is expected to include a grocery store. As proposed by Langley-based Orion construction, the preliminary design shows most of the buildings on the nine-acre site would be up to 14 stories tall. Read the full article here.
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As attitudes toward land use shift in Metro Vancouver and major centres across Canada, mixed-use industrial projects are becoming key players in economic growth and the future of development. Read the full thought-leadership piece, by Cameron Archer, here.
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The recently completed Coastal Heights Distribution Centre stands as an elegant industrial landmark in southern British Columbia but its presence offers no clues of the disruptions and obstacles that made the build a highly challenging task. Read the full article here.
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Orion Construction’s focus is industrial projects, and their timing couldn’t be better. Director of Sales and Marketing Cameron Archer says the industrial and strata market is showing renewed signs of life thus far in 2024, and, motivated by cities changing Development Cost Charge requirements, and stabilized interest rates, the year looks promising. Read the full article here.
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A six-storey 84-rental home development broke ground in Langford on Feb. 27. Aura, the new expansion, will be close to shops and universities and help grow the City of Langford, said acting Mayor Mary Wagner. Read the full article here.
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Aura in Langford offers a mix of one- and two-bedroom rental homes, strategically located to enhance urban living. With a focus on sustainability and community well-being, Aura enriches the local community with its commitment to green practices and convenient amenities. Read the full article here.
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Developer Cedar Coast and builder Orion Construction today broke ground on Aura, an 84-unit purpose-built rental apartment building at 870 McCallum Road in Langford. The project aligns with the climate performance criteria in the CMHC MLI Select Program, with the new homes to be constructed to ‘Step Code 3’ which is 50 per cent more energy efficient than the building code. Read the full article here.
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A six-storey 84-rental home development broke ground in Langford on Feb. 27. Aura, the new expansion, will be close to shops and universities and help grow the City of Langford, said acting Mayor Mary Wagner. “Our world’s getting smaller. And, so we can think of things like walkability. And if you bike well, it’s only 10 minutes to the heart of Langford from here.” Read the full article here.
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Despite challenges such as high-interest rates and inflationary pressures, the Canadian industrial sector experienced significant growth in 2023, with 144 industrial projects totaling 25.9 million square feet, 41.1% of which were pre-leased. The landscape continues to evolve, especially in regions like Vancouver where industrial land scarcity remains a pressing issue. Cameron Archer from Orion Construction sheds light on the trends shaping the British Columbia industrial market this year. Read the full article here.
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Orion helps light industrial and commercial developments with design, permitting and more. He’s still a young man, but Josh Gaglardi has already spent a life working in construction. Read the full article here.
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While studies have found the Canadian construction industry lags other sectors in adopting technology, there are many good reasons why contractors should jump on the digital bandwagon, according to Cameron Archer, director of sales and marketing at Orion Construction in Langley, B.C. Read the full article here.
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Industrial warehouse construction is not simply undergoing a transformation – it’s spearheading a revolutionary shift, led by a cocktail of influences such as customer demands, labour crises, supply chain upheavals, technological breakthroughs, and an urgent cry for sustainability. Read the full article here.
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On September 23rd, 2022, I opened up my email and received a note from the Globe & Mail, informing me that Orion Construction made the list of Canada’s Top Growing Companies. Not only did we make the list, but we placed #1. I jumped out of my chair and re-read the email in disbelief, thinking that there had to be a couple zeros behind that 1. I was expecting we’d place in the hundreds, but seeing our name, Orion Construction at the top of the list was very unexpected, but assuring confirmation of our incredible growth. (more…)
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The second largest current industrial development in Abbotsford is nearing the final approval stage. The 250,000-square-foot project has been proposed for 1585 Riverside Rd., just south of Highway 1 near King Road in east Abbotsford. The area is already home to several industrial businesses.
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Leadership in construction with perspective from the job site. A podcast dedicated to the Construction industry. Construction professionals, General Contractors, Sub trade Contractors, and Specialty Contractors audiences will be engaged by the discussions between the hosts and their guests on topics and stories.
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Phased projects have frequently been a way to bring large-scale developments to completion, breaking them down into elements that appear in turn, almost organically, at a pace that allows the developer to avoid becoming financially overstretched.
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When it comes to growth in any area of Canadian business, construction companies are leading the way. In a list ranking 430 of Canada’s fastest growing companies, a B.C. builder took the top spot. We pored over the list to find other innovative construction-related companies that ranked high and figure out what they are doing different.
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When a real estate developer gets going on a project, they need to engage with several partners for it to come to life. They work with government officials, architects, engineers, designers, a construction team, and the list goes on. In today’s economy, with the rising costs of materials and long lead times, any efficiencies you can build into a project are welcome because, at the end of the day, time is money. This is the reason choosing a design-build contractor helps to make a project more efficient and profitable in the long run. (more…)
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The solution may lie in doing more with less as land for large-bay space and industrial developments becomes a scarcity around Metro Vancouver. “Currently, Metro Vancouver has one of the tightest industrial markets in Canada due to the shortage of available land,” Cameron Archer, director of sales and marketing with Orion Construction, told the Journal of Commerce.
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Orion Construction is growing – a lot. In the past three years they have seen revenue growth of more than 12,000 per cent. This earned the full-service contractor for light industrial and commercial developments the number one spot on the Globe and Mail’s Top Growing Companies list in 2022. Read the full article here.
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BIV is proud to recognize Joshua Gaglardi, founder and president of Orion Construction, and 39 exceptional business leaders with 2022 Forty under 40 Awards.
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Vacancy rates for office and industrial real estate in both Vancouver and Victoria are lower than in any other market in Canada, according to a year-end report published by Colliers on Thursday.
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Contractors, designers, consultants and others gave their thoughts on the year ahead.
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A new light industrial developement in Port Coquitlam’s Dominion Triangle neighbourhood is closer to reality after council gave first and second reading to a rezoning proposal on Tuesday (Sept. 27). Orion Construction has proposed to rezone 590 Dominion Ave. from agricultural to light industrial with plans to subdivide one lot into two lots, as well as develop two new light industrial buildings.
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BC is home to several of Canada’s top growing companies, according to a new ranking by The Globe & Mail. “Canada’s Top Growing Companies” includes over 400 companies, and ranks them based on a handful of factors. Let’s get into it.
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Josh Gaglardi’s construction firm, Orion Construction, found an opportunity perfectly suited to the pandemic era. Now a lack of available land is pushing it skyward
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Meet 430 businesses that will give you expansion envy
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Two years ago, Orion Construction started work on a 430,000-square-foot warehouse in Surrey, B.C. By 2021, construction costs had risen so much that its bid for a second, similar-sized building in the same area was 20 per cent higher. “If we had to bid for a similar project today, it would be 25 to 30 per cent higher [than in 2020],” says Josh Gaglardi, principal and founder of the Langley, B.C.-based design-build company.
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Supply-chain bottlenecks and inflationary pressures squeezing the overall economy are also complicating the already challenging Lower Mainland industrial property sector, one industry official says. Josh Gaglardi, principal of Langley-based Orion Construction, specializes in innovative light industrial and commercial projects throughout Metro Vancouver.
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A Langley-based commercial and industrial building design and construction company. Inflation and wage pressures are atop the list of challenges for Orion, which employs 36 people directly and several hundred more through contractors on construction projects. The company has been feeling the pinch of inflation, especially high gasoline and diesel prices, which in turn increase other input costs.
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Orion Construction is a Langley, B,.C.-based commercial and industrial building design and construction company. Inflation and wage pressures are atop the list of challenges for Orion, which employs 36 people directly and several hundred more through contractors on construction projects. The company has been feeling the pinch of inflation, especially high gasoline and diesel prices, which in turn increase other input costs.
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The rising cost of industrial space in Metro Vancouver hits close to home for Josh Gaglardi, president of Orion Construction Corp. in Langley. A design-build firm working with developers of strata industrial units, Gaglardi has worked to keep ahead of escalating prices so developers can maintain margins while keeping prices attractive.
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COVID-19, labour shortages, massive price fluctuations. For B.C. builders it seems like one problem on top another. Josh Gaglardi, principal and founder of Orion Construction, has had to come up with creative strategies to mitigate the issues but says doing business has been getting harder and harder. Over the past 18 to 24 months he has seen massive increases in construction pricing and costs in the range of 25 to 30 per cent.
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Gas prices may be wreaking havoc on the wallets of everyday drivers when filling up at the pump, but for construction industry professionals, it’s meant large-scale changes to the way they operate. Josh Gaglardi, principal and founder of British Columbia-based industrial and commercial construction firm Orion Construction, says he is certainly feeling the effects of rising fuel prices, the most obvious being when it comes to the price of operating necessary fuel-powered machinery.
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COVID-19, labour shortages, massive price fluctuations. For B.C. builders it seems like one problem on top another. Josh Gaglardi, principal and founder of Orion Construction, has had to come up with creative strategies to mitigate the issues but says doing business has been getting harder and harder.
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When the conversation around real estate in British Columbia sparks, it tends to sway to the current state of the market with respect to residential offerings. Over the first three months of 2022 alone, 15,758 new homes were registered in the province, according to the B.C. Housing Research Centre.
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As B.C.’s economy rebounds from the pandemic, demand for industrial space is expected to accelerate through 2022. According to Josh Gaglardi, principal at Orion Construction, it’s more important than ever to prioritize high-density industrial projects and develop large-format industrial centres to provide more industrial space for businesses in the region.
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All project-based work in the construction industry circles back to timelines, budgets and the deliverables due to clients. The industry’s workings can be compared to that of a well-oiled machine in the sense that it rarely stops. Today, Canada’s construction industry employs more than 1.4 million people.
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More warehouses and more jobs could be coming soon to Port Coquitlam, after a developer snapped up one of the last big parcels of land in the Dominion Triangle. The property, located at 590 Dominion Ave., was sold for $10.65 million to a private company, according to commercial real estate broker, Lee and Associates, and the development will be a small-bay industrial strata project. Orion Construction will build the development.
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How how high can it go? A five-acre property in the Dominion Triangle area of Port Coquitlam sold for $10.65M. Now it will be developed for warehouses. More warehouses and more jobs could be coming soon to Port Coquitlam, after a developer snapped up one of the last big parcels of land in the Dominion Triangle. The property, located at 590 Dominion Ave., was sold for $10.65 million to a private company, according to commercial real estate broker, Lee and Associates, and the development will be a small bay industrial strata project. Orion Construction will build the development.
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Greater Vancouver’s municipalities are painstakingly slow to approve industrial developments, for which there’s great demand and low availability, causing rental rates to surge and forcing e-commerce companies to recover costs from consumers who buy products online. “It is incredibly hard to get new product onto the market. We’re seeing a lot of barriers to entry municipally and provincially,” said Josh Gaglardi, Principal of Orion Construction.
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Greater Vancouver’s municipalities are painstakingly slow to approve industrial developments, for which there’s great demand and low availability, causing rental rates to surge and forcing e-commerce companies to recover costs from consumers who buy products online. “It is incredibly hard to get new product onto the market. We’re seeing a lot of barriers to entry municipally and provincially,” said Josh Gaglardi, Principal of Orion Construction. “Lower Mainland industrial land has an extreme scarcity problem. Once you find a property and work through intense due diligence requirements, it’s increasingly harder to go through municipal and provincial approvals. If it wasn’t hard enough to satisfy one of the key factors, coupled with strong industrial demand and the lack of greenfield options, you have a municipal approvals process that is slowing everything down.”
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Century-old waterproofing, glazing and roofing specialist to consolidate its western operations in new building in Surrey, B.C. Bothwell-Accurate, a nearly century-old waterproofing, glazing and roofing specialist with roots in Ontario, is consolidating its western operations in Lower Mainland B.C., setting up a Western Canadian headquarters in Surrey’s Campbell Heights Business Park. The new commercial building will bring Bothwell-Accurate’s western office, warehouse and manufacturing operations under a single roof, while also providing space to double their local workforce and add important, skilled jobs to the community.
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Kitchen seeking to raise $200K during Coldest Night of the Year charity walk. The Cloverdale Community Kitchen has found great success fundraising for Coldest Night of the Year. The annual event is a charity walk held simultaneously in communities across Canada. This year, it’s being held on Feb. 26 and it’s the Community Kitchen’s biggest fundraising event of the year.
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The Coldest Night of the Year charity event returns Feb. 26. Hosted locally by the Cloverdale Community Kitchen (CCK), the annual fundraiser is a family-friendly event that helps support the less fortunate, while at the same time raises awareness about homelessness in the Cloverdale community.
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Construction firm Bothwell-Accurate is expanding its presence within Lower Mainland with a new facility at Campbell Heights Business Park in Surrey. The Ontario-based company will consolidate its existing local operations at a new and expanded facility spanning 100,000 sq ft at 3435 194 Street, where warehouse and manufacturing operations will be brought under a single roof. As well, it will establish Bothwell-Accurate’s new Western Canada headquarters.
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Real estate lenders are hot for Vancouver, but even the bulls are skittish about some sectors in arguably the best property market in Canada. It is easy to understand the raw confidence that surrounds the outlook for Metro Vancouver commercial estate going into 2022. When real estate lenders at 30 top Canadian financial firms were asked where they wished to place money this year, three cities and two sectors dominated every list. The cities included Vancouver and the sectors were residential and industrial, with core-based, grocery-anchored retail in a distant third place, according to the CBRE 2021 Canadian Real Estate Lender’s Report.
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The recent devastation caused by flooding in communities like Abbotsford, Merritt and along essential highway and transport links in southern British Columbia has taught us a painful lesson that we probably should have seen coming. Our supply chains are vulnerable, and far too dependent on centralized distribution and warehousing centres in Metro Vancouver. There are complicating factors.
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Vancouver has a vacancy rate of 0.6% in its industrial sector, which is 1.2 million sq. ft out of a total 204 million, and with a shortage of facilities larger than 100,000 sq. ft available, the provincial economy risks taking a hit.
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Demand for Metro Vancouver industrial space has skyrocketed, and regulators need to find ways to streamline the application process for more space to be built, one industry official said. Josh Gaglardi, principal at Surrey-based industrial/commercial construction firm Orion Construction, said the space shortage is so acute that industrial space developers and owner-users are looking well beyond their usual potential sites to secure what they need.
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“Buy land, they’re not making it anymore,” is a quip that falls somewhat flat in most parts of Canada. But in the few regions it rings true, it rings very true. Metro Vancouver is one of them. “We’ve got mountains to the north, border to the south, water to the west. We’re just kind of pushing everything east,” Joshua Gaglardi, principal at Orion Construction, said.
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Demand for Metro Vancouver industrial space has skyrocketed, and regulators need to find ways to streamline the application process for more space to be built, one industry official said. Josh Gaglardi, principal at Surrey-based industrial/commercial construction firm Orion Construction, said the space shortage is so acute that industrial space developers and owner-users are looking well beyond their usual potential sites to secure what they need.
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Josh Gaglardi, the principal at Orion Construction, says the rising push for e-commerce is also increasing the demand for scarce warehouse space.
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British Columbia’s Lower Mainland is approaching a critical reckoning when it comes to our industrial property market. Watchers and stakeholders already know that the persistent issue associated with our industrial sector has been unchanging: there is significant and rising demand from businesses for port-related job space; life sciences labs; e-commerce distribution buildings; storage for tradespeople and contractors; light manufacturing and food processing and other logistics-oriented businesses.
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Demand for industrial facilities is arguably higher than ever in the Lower Mainland, but dwindling land availability in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley means that nothing stays on the market for long. “A lot of the remaining lands are considered ‘low lands,’ meaning they’re sitting by water and have [poor] soil conditions, but there’s adequate demand locally, so most of the projects we’re working on are sold out or leased before the projects are completed,” said Josh Gaglardi, principal of Orion Construction.
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