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That's A Metal Building???

Monday, April 28, 2008


Victoria's famous Inner Harbour - bustling, vibrant centre of action and world renowned tourist destination for thousands every year. The ever prominent Capitol Buildings, the famed Empress Hotel, the prestigious Tall Ships and crisp white Cruise Line vessels, a picturesque backdrop of yachts and floatplanes, magnificent floral displays and a Metal Building?

Excuse me...a Metal Building?... Yes, Victoria's Inner Harbour is the new home for one of Colony's brightest projects, Nexterra Energy Corp.'s biomass gasification system for Dockside Green Power Limited. Once completed, the internationally acclaimed Dockside Green development will be a community for approximately 2,500 people, incorporating the very highest in Green Standards. The project will include residential, live/work, hotel, retail, office and light industrial uses, as well as numerous public amenities.

Right from the start, one of the key challenges on this project was coming up with an architecturally pleasing as well as economical means of providing a completely functional enclosure to protect Nexterra's technically advanced equipment and have the City of Victoria as well as the Dockside Green Partners pleased with the end result.

"This is a rather special project because of its high profile waterfront location just a stone's throw away from Victoria's iconic heritage buildings," said William Rhone, the Architect who worked on the Project in association with CEI Neilson Architects of Vancouver and Victoria. "There are certain design complexities that were inherent with the Project in order to comply with the City of Victoria guidelines" Rhone continued, "so the process for gaining approval for the Project became a little more complex than the usual type of industrial building."

Philip Beaty, Nexterra's Vice President of Sales confirmed that "Colony had a terrific opportunity to entertain a more sophisticated structure than is usually found on a standard industrial site. They had done it before and were quite interested and willing to work with our Architect." Rhone agreed about working with Colony towards the final design: "I think Colony were great, first class. I'd say it was a pretty good fit."

The Dockside project is not just another pretty face...I mean building. Dockside Green Power Limited is a newly formed "micro energy utility" that has been created by Terasen Energy Systems, Vancity Capital, Corix Group of Companies and Windmill West Developments to own and operate the gasification system and administer the heat and hot water service for Dockside Green.

Nexterra's gasification system converts urban wood waste into synthesis gas or "syngas" to generate heat and hot water from biomass. By selecting this technology, Dockside Green will avoid producing about 2,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

"Reducing emissions from buildings to the point where we are carbon-neutral was one of many things that Dockside Green needed to do to be a world-class sustainable community. We looked around the world for the right technology and found Nexterra in our own backyard." said Windmill Development's Joe Van Belleghem, co-developer of the project along with Vancity Capital.

"Developing unique and viable solutions that address both economic and environmental concerns require a profound change in the way we do business," said Nexterra's CEO Jonathan Rhone. "Nexterra has been thrilled to work with Dockside Green on this project. The unprecedented group of partners have worked together to ensure that this remarkable waterfront community will significantly reduce its carbon footprint and be a showcase for truly sustainable urban development".

Colony is proud to have played a role in the success of this exciting development. Our building will be completed later this year and the complete Dockside Green development is scheduled for a three phase completion over the next decade. For more information on Nexterra Energy Corp. or Dockside Green please visit the website at www.nexterra.ca and www.docksidegreen.com respectively.

© 2008, Colony Management Inc..
www.colonybuildings.com

That's A Metal Building???
Posted by Colony Management on Monday, April 28, 2008


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