Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been stressing the importance of innovation and how it can benefit Canada’s economy. In December, Port Metro Vancouver reported that there would be a shortage of trade-enabling industrial land in Vancouver within the next ten years. PC Urban decided to take the prime minister’s urging to heart and came up with an innovative concept to create space for trade and industries operating in the city of Vancouver.
Industrial land is instrumental in creating jobs and facilitating movement of goods, and it plays a critical role in the local and national economies. With Vancouver surrounded by mountains, agricultural land and ocean, industrial developers had no other recourse but to extend their constructions vertically. This was the case until PC Urban’s novel approach.
PC Urban has found a way to transform existing, older industrial buildings into high-quality, high-density mixed-use developments within the heart of Vancouver. Currently, the firm has two projects that are garnering a lot of attention.
One is the Lightworks, which is an industrial heritage preservation development that will see an obsolete industrial building change into a new 54,000-square-foot six-story office and retail centre to house businesses and creative manufacturers.
The second project is Intraurban. This will see an existing 20,000-square-foot building being replaced by 170,000-square-foot new business centre. The centre will have multiple levels of commercial space that will enable small business owners and mid-sized enterprises to own industrial space within the city.
It is anticipated that an increase in commercial space will enable more businesses to set up base, thereby creating more jobs locally.
The building for the Lightworks project was formerly used for the manufacturing of radio parts. However, once it is ready, it will be home to new tenants who work in creative manufacturing, designing, gaming, and the film industry. Meanwhile, the Intraurban project, which previously housed a factory manufacturing culverts, will see businesses from the service industry, including architectural and engineering firms, bakeries, and landscaping companies.
As Vancouver and Canada grow, there is a need to provide adequate industrial space for businesses to develop and expand. PC Urban has come up with an innovative solution by re-imagining older buildings and transforming them for higher-density use.
Innovation is something that can help Canada’s economy grow and become competitive in a global environment, and UCW’s MBA program espouses the same belief. The program helps MBA graduates learn the art of out-of-the-box problem solving to address the challenges that their organizations face. Graduates acquire essential business skills and expertise in order to become efficient leaders in their workplace.
