Building up success

A local engineering firm moves into a new office hoping to spur more business development in a high traffic area

Six months of work was all it took for the company to build a new home. — Trevor Crawley photo

Trust a structural engineering firm to design and build a new home office.

Nelson Engineering Inc. finished their new office in June and has all but moved into their new home at 111 Seventh Avenue in Cranbrook.

With 850 square feet of open office space, ground level access and a parking lot, owner Brad Nelson is pleased with the final results.

He moved his office from the second floor of the old Sun Life building on Baker Street in Cranbrook because there was limited parking and only stairwell access to his office.

Originally built as a car wash and later bought by M & K Plumbing, the site where the new office currently sits was purchased by Nelson two years ago.

After designing the plans in-house, renovations and construction began in December 2009, finishing six months later.

When he first bought the property, it seemed like everyone advised him to tear it all down because, as he was told, the existing structure was “the ugliest building in Cranbrook.”

When he heard that, he took it as a challenge to do what he could to remove and rebuild in an environmentally and responsible fashion that would suit his business needs.

“It seems like nowadays, we throw everything away—we don’t fix anything anymore—so we decided we’d recycle the old building and do something different with it,” said Nelson.

The old structure was stripped down with walnut blasting, an environmentally friendly process, and Nelson had the wood and old insulation picked up, which was recycled into a shop and a garage.

Jeff Baker with Horizon Homes in Kimberley was contracted to build the structure, which was completed on time and on budget.

Based on NEI plans, the roof and walls were replaced, a new floor was installed and new insulation was put in place.

“Everyone’s been really positive—both local people and even the city of Cranbrook. They’re really happy with what we’ve done. They look at it hoping it will inspire other businesses along Seventh Avenue to maybe renovate their buildings as well,” said Nelson.

Walk through the doors and you’ll meet the receptionist, and another office for Nelson, but the rest of the space is an open-concept room with drafting desks, computers and a plotter.

The downtown core may be the focal point of business in Cranbrook, but Nelson believes Seventh Avenue has some of the highest rates of traffic in the city.

By building a new office in a part of town that isn’t typically a business hotspot, the increased exposure will only mean good things for him and his clients.

“What we tried to create was a bit of a different building both on the outside and on the inside. We’re open concept on the inside because we’re an engineering office,” Nelson said. “It makes it interesting, and if it’s interesting, people make a point of coming in. Plus, we’re engineers and we’re supposed to be creative so we designed a creative space.”

He also sees the new office as an investment in himself and his business.

Nelson has been a structural engineer for years and made a name for himself as someone who understood the challenges of building projects up north in the Arctic region.

Up north, architects, engineers and construction managers have to be aware of the effect of permafrost and other environmental elements on building structures.

“You have to be quite a bit better planned when you do projects in the North because the materials are shipped in by water in the summer. There are no roads in a lot of cases—there’s just airplane access,” he said.

Currently, the building is only half-occupied with Nelson’s office on one side and empty space on the other. His business is fully served with the space and he is looking to lease out the other half of the building, which is 850 square feet.