Maple Reinders wins contract for Royal B.C. Museum project
By Adam Freill
Commercial Construction Green Construction InstitutionalConstruction to begin this summer on the Royal BC Museum’s collections and research building to protect more than seven million artifacts.
(Photo courtesy of Infrastructure BC)
Maple Reinders has been awarded a $204.8-million contract for the construction of the Royal B.C. Museum (RBCM) Collections and Research Building in Colwood, B.C., lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) Territory. The procurement and partnering process was conducted by the Province of British Columbia, Royal B.C. Museum and Esquimalt and Songhees Nations.
The new 15,200-square-metre (163,611-square-foot) facility will be an advanced, sustainable, and culturally sensitive building that will serve as a community and learning hub for the region. Once complete, the new facility will house the museum’s collections, research departments, learning spaces and the B.C. Archives. Plans call for extensive use of mass timber construction, and that the building be constructed to meet CleanBC energy efficiency standards, and be LEED Gold Certified.
Key areas of the Collections and Research Building will be open to the public, facilitating community access to the collections and to museum staff. Visitors will be able to interact with displays and artifacts that shed light on the history of the province and observe researchers at work in person and online in the media centre. The archives will continue to provide research access to archival records of enduring value to the province in this new, state-of-the-art environment.
“We are humbled to have been chosen to design and construct this important cultural facility,” said Reuben Scholtens, vice-president of major projects at the Maple Reinders Group. “Our team is committed to delivering a world-class facility that will not only serve as a community and learning hub but will reflect and pay respect to the deep cultural connections the local Indigenous peoples have to the place where the facility will stand. There is a vibrant and compelling story to be told and we are enthused at the prospect of being able to assist in its telling.”
Construction on the project is set to begin this summer, with completion expected in 2026.
