Big new jobs boost architecture firm’s scope
By Winnipeg Free Press Staff Writer / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Winnipeg, Manitoba
January 23, 2009
Friesen Tokar's (from left) Erika Sammons, Vanessa Aleshka and Joanne McFadden are collaborating on the Calgary project.
A Winnipeg architectural design firm has landed two high-profile out-of-province contracts as it spreads its wings in Western Canada.
Friesen Tokar Architects + Landscape + Interior Designers has won a $4.2-million contract to design three new cadet dormitories for the RCMP’s Regina training academy.
It was also one of two firms recently chosen to provide interior design services for a massive new $1.4-billion health-care facility (the South Health Campus) being built in Calgary. The dollar value of that contract has not been disclosed.
Friesen Tokar officials said both contracts were major coups for the firm because both were subject to national competitions. "We were competing against some of the biggest firms in Canada and are thrilled to add our flavour to this unique healing environment, which will offer new models of health-care delivery," principal Joanne McFadden said of the Calgary project.
Friesen Tokar senior principal Jerald Peters said the fact the firm opened a new office in Calgary last summer also helped it land the contract.
"It definitely had a role because all the team meetings are in Calgary and we need to be able to go on site at short notice," he said. "Plus, it always seems to be important to have a local office." He said opening the Calgary office was part of a long-term strategy for growing the company’s presence in Western Canada.
"And Calgary seemed like the centre we needed to be in because we were already doing work in other parts of Alberta."
The Regina contract is part of a multi-phase development that calls for construction of three new RCMP dorms over the next five years. Friesen Tokar has already started working on the design for the first and expects to get the nod to design the other two once they’re ready to proceed.
He said the company will likely have about 15 to 20 of its employees working on the Regina project its at its height, and about a dozen working on the Calgary one. The latter project will take about two years to complete.
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