BC Hydro, Regional Office – Pemberton: Cost-conscious design blending function with community appeal

BC Hydro’s Pemberton Regional Office works in tandem with BC Hydro’s Whistler and Squamish facilities within the Sea-to-Sky corridor. We designed a new two-storey post-disaster administration building with office areas, employee amenities, a warehouse and three tucks bays, in addition to supporting ancillary storage buildings on site. To manage costs, we worked directly with a pre-engineered building supplier to create a solution that would meet BC Hydro’s functional needs and budget as well as a City Council mandate that the building appear as non-industrial as possible. We developed a cost-effective cladding system, which incorporated deep multi-coloured horizontal panels with wood soffit highlights to create a strong street presence. The result was a unique solution with a significant reduction in construction costs and which was regarded positively by both City Council and neighbours.