VICA announces first annual award finalists for building excellence

VICTORIA – The Vancouver Island Construction Association (VICA) has announced the finalists for its first annual awards.

The VICA Awards will recognize work across Vancouver Island in the commercial, institutional, industrial, civil and multi-family residential construction sectors, and are open to all VICA members in good standing.

“We’re thrilled to be hosting our inaugural awards gala to showcase our members’ diverse projects across Vancouver Island. While we celebrate our members’ achievements throughout the year, the VICA Awards are our way of formally recognizing the hard work these men and women do to build our local communities,” said VICA CEO Rory Kulmala in a statement.

The finalists are as follows:

The sole nominee for the Innovation and Productivity award is Houle Electric for construction site security video monitoring. Houle Electric is also nominated for two projects in the Electrical Contractor category, the Comox Valley Hospital and the HBS Recapitalization Project at the Victoria International Airport and is also a Safety Award winner.

Other Safety Award nominees are Cumberland Ready-Mix Ltd., K5 Contracting (Drilling and Blasting Contractor) Ltd. and Casman Projects (BC) Inc.

Knappet Projects has nominations in several categories, including the General Contractor – Up to $10 Million category for the Union Club Building Renovation project and the General Contractor – Over $10 Million category for both the City of Campbell River Water Treatment Plant project and The Amica at Gorge.

Canem Systems Inc. is also up for an Electrical Contractor award for The Amica at Gorge. Knappet’s Daniel Behrens has been nominated for the U40 Construction award and Cori Coutts has been nominated in the Education Leadership category.

Other nominees in the U40 Construction category include Barclay Ellis from Trades Labour Corp (TLC) Victoria and Eric Ulrich from Playsted Sheet Metal. In the Education Leadership category, Sarah-Jayne Roe from Camosun College and Mark Taylor of Mark Taylor Construction Advisory Services Ltd. are also nominated.

The nominees for the Outstanding Woman in Construction award are Kathy Price from Knappet Projects Inc., Kate Ulmer from Herold Engineering Limited and Jayna Wiewiorowski from Camosun College.

Erb Technical Contracting is nominated for The Amica at Gorge project in the Mechanical Contractor – Over $3 Million category along with Trotter & Morton Group of Companies for the VIU Health Sciences Centre. Erb Technical Contracting is the sole nominee in the Mechanical Contractor – Up to $3 Million category for the Brentwood College Foote Athletic Centre project.

Olde Country Masonry Ltd is a double nominee for the Trade Contractor award for the City of Campbell River Water Treatment Plant and the Union Club Building Renovation. The other nominee in the category is Flynn Canada Ltd. for their work on 819 Yates Street, Yello on Yates.

Kinetic Construction is also nominated for its work on 819 Yates Street, Yello on Yates in the General Contractor – Over $10 Million category. In the General Contractor – Up to $10 Million category, the other nominees are Century Group Inc. Companies for 620 Superior Street Tenant Improvements and Saywell Contracting Ltd. for the Nuutsumuut Lelum (Nanaimo Passive House) project.

The nominees for the Manufacturer and Supplier award are Brock White Canada for the Brentwood College Foote Athletic Centre, Longhouse Forest Products for the Pacific Centre Family Services project and Victaulic for the VIA Health Sciences Centre.

The VICA Member of the Year nominees are ALLTERRA Construction Ltd., Century Group Inc. Constructors and Rob Tournour Masonry Ltd.

The winners will receive their awards at the formal awards gala on April 23 at the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort in Victoria. The awards will be held the evening before the Vancouver Island Construction Conference begins.