Friday 1 May 2015

Education Report - Specifier: May 2015

The Vancouver Technical Representative course that started in January of this year has recently finished at the beginning of May. The eight students that participated had recently completed their final panel presentation. The CSC congratulates those who have earned their Technical Representative designation and know they will be excellent representatives of the CSC.

It is early days but if you are interested in the Principles of Construction Documentation (PCD) course please contact me as the chapter is likely going to hold this course again in the fall and would like to have an idea of the interest level. As of now we have heard from three people that have expressed interest. PCD is the first course, and a pre-requisite, for all of the CSC education streams. These are Certified Technical Representative, Certified Construction Contract Administrator, and Certified Specification Practitioner. It is also a strong foundational course for people who are new to the construction industry or want to better understand construction documentation (specifications, drawings and schedules), products, bidding procedures and contracts. This course is offered on-line by CSC Canada once a year and the Vancouver chapter aims to hold one local class a year.

The CSC Vancouver chapter was planning to have a Construction Contract Administration begin in the late winter or early spring. Based on the schedule of those that were going to register the Chapter has postponed the course until the fall. When the dates have been confirmed I will e-mail those who have contacted me in and post the information on the website.

The CSC Vancouver chapter has reached out to a few potential instructors about teaching previous courses. If you are interested in teaching a full course or would like to help co-teach a course please contact me to discuss your interests.

For further information please contact me at robert@div7.ca

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Words from the Chair - Specifier: May 2015

I find myself with mixed emotions writing my final column before turning over the reins to a very capable James Kelly, CTR of Soprema. Mixed because I have such a passion for this association and have so very much enjoyed being a part of such a hardworking and dedicated executive committee. That is the sad part of the equation the other part is relief because I have my own business to run and finding balance has been difficult on occasion. I guess a third emotion is the pride in knowing that there is a very capable team taking on the operations of the association made up of both existing and new team members. So much gets done on a daily basis for the Vancouver Chapter by the many individuals who put aside their paying work and don an impartial and unbiased industry hat for the betterment of the association that I need to acknowledge them here. They are in no particular order but deserve a virtual “high five” or in today’s world “fist bump” so here goes…Vince Smith from Cloverdale who has been and continues to be our treasurer, George McCutcheon of North West PLAN Inc who has been our Specification Officer, our Program Chair and currently Secretary and adviser extraordinaire, Blair Bennett, CTR of Soprema who retired this year as Director on the Nation Board after many dedicated years of service. Melodie Schwartzman, CTR of CGC who is our Member at Large, Past Chair, Past Director and has agreed to stay on again this year. Mario Maggio, CDT of C.R. Laurence Canada/U.S. Aluminum who has been our Membership Officer for years and continues to be a part of our group despite a promotion including more responsibilities! Brad Morris, CSP of Morris Specifications Inc is our Website Officer and has mastered the art of NOT rolling his eyes when I either do not understand what he is talking about or I get very enthusiastic over something he has been doing for years…sorry Brad for causing you all the stress…you do such a wonderful job for us, I had to apologize! Todd Gerrard (CTR in waiting) of Enercorp Inc. for his tireless work on our ever growing and ever expanding Trade Fair – Despite have a run taken at us by a much larger trade show group. Thank you Todd for stepping up and agreeing to become Vice-Chair! Eric Poxleitner, Architect of Keystone Architecture and planning Ltd for all of his efforts in providing us with another great year of programs and agreeing to stay on as Co-Chair of programs and mentor our incoming program person. Robert Jahnsen (CTR in Waiting as well) of Div 7 for another great job in Education. Keep it up and you will never be able to leave Robert! Peggy Perry CSP of Boldwing Continuum Architects Inc for joining us mid-year as our Specifications Officer and for agreeing to stay on this year, thank you Peggy. Finally to Glen Stokes, Partner Architect, Bruce Carscadden Architect for his hard work and dedication to our Newsletter. His job has been a bit like herding feral cats and he has done it magnificently. I look forward to sitting on the board as Director for this Chapter at the National level and to working with the returning folk as well as some new faces who join us officially June 1st! Help me welcome Dennis Hodkinson, CCCA of Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. who is taking over the Newsletter responsibilities, Leon Viger, Senior Project Manager of MGBA | Mallen Gowing Berzins Architecture who is to be Co-Chair of programs, Ryan Foster, BC Sales Rep – Roxul Inc our new Marketing Chair and Brian Maher, Technical Sales Representative – Dryvit who is taking over the Trade Fair responsibilities. Without everyone’s time and energy we would not be as successful as we are.

I should not finish without mentioning that the Vancouver Regional Construction Association, the BC Construction Association and the Canadian Construction Association have identified quality of documents as an ongoing priority and are actively examining the role their collective associations can play in addressing this important topic. If you would like to know more about this, please contact Fiona Famulak at president@vrca.bc.ca  to see if there is a role you can play in their ongoing discussions.

Thank you for the opportunity to Chair this amazing organization, I look forward to seeing you at upcoming events and encourage you to chat with one of us to see how you might become involved, we always welcome member involvement and a fresh perspective!

Kimberly J. Tompkins, CTR
Principal Tec Agencies Ltd
604-880-4470 (M)
866-928-0944 Toll Free
www.tecagencies.com

Proudly representing;
Cosella Dorken: www.cosella-dorken.com
EPRO: www.eproserv.com
Knight Wall: www.knightwallsystems.com
Lymtal – Iso-Flex: www.lymtal.com
ProtectoWrap: www.protectowrap.com

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For more issues, visit our website or visit our archive for past issues.