Burnaby, British Columbia’s CN Architectural Millwork and Construction Inc. supplied and installed all of the millwork details for global tech company, Microsoft, in Gastown. The new project at 155 Water Street, Vancouver, was announced in 2019 as the tech tycoon business was seeking to expand its corporate presence in Vancouver. The newly restored, 75,000-square-foot office space is seven storeys tall and the office spaces are all suitable for tech.
CN Architectural Millwork, a member of the Architectural Woodwork Institute, developed the ceiling and wall paneling, casework, tabletops, wood veneer doors, painted doors, the elevator lobby, and reception desks. The building was restored to retain the history and heritage of Gastown. “The goal being to break the scale of the two components down into masses which embody the Gastown character,” said Gastown’s Urban Design Panel. “Preserving the two facades is critical, as one of the goals of the Gastown guidelines is to preserve existing heritage.” The new office location is set to grow Microsoft’s presence in Vancouver with a total of 1,700 new employees and over 3,700 employees across Canada.
LEED Gold Building Standard
The office is also designed with a 3,800-square-foot outdoor rooftop lounge and panoramic views inside. The redevelopment that CN Architectural Millwork is a part of is a LEED Gold green building standard. The Gold standard (60-79 points) is designated for excellence in addressing carbon, transportation, materials, health, and indoor environmental quality.
The Burnaby millwork and construction company generates its millwork and cabinetry using multiple CNC router machines in its 18,000-square-foot facility. Being a member of AWI, CN Architectural Millwork is certified for its quality woodwork craft and abides by compliance inspections with the American Subcontractors Association (ASA). CN Architectural Millwork was awarded gold and the category of ‘President’s Trade Award’ for their YMCA/ Patina project in 2011 by the Vancouver Regional Construction Association. The awards were allocated for projects representing $1.2 billion of construction across British Columbia.
Number of Prominent Projects
In 2019, CN Architectural Millwork was also awarded the ‘Architectural Woodwork Institute Award of Excellence Winners’ for their Capilano University Shipyards project in North Vancouver’s Shipyards district. The company completed the casework, stone countertops, solid wood tables, and benches, reception desk, wood doors, wall paneling, and suspended ceiling panels for the university which became a focal point of the space.
“With a vision of bringing the forest and natural environment into the building, our design team created an award winning concept that we are very proud of today,” said Kenny Fung, associate director of planning and projects at Capilano University. “We are pleased to see this award recognize each of our project partners for their contribution to the design and construction of CapU Lonsdale.” CN Architectural Millwork worked alongside the architectural design firm, Dialog and the construction team, Turner Construction.
CN Architectural Millwork’s new Gastown office is roughly half the size of Microsoft’s 2016-opened, 142,000-square-foot office located in the CF Pacific Centre building. The firm has another office location at 858 Beatty Street, near BC Place Stadium at the edge of Yaletown.
Ellie King is the Editor of Wood Industry / Le monde du bois magazine and weekly E-digest. She has years of experience in B2B writing and editing and is empowered by the opportunity to share the marvels, pitfalls and weekly news of Canada’s secondary wood industry with our readers.