Teck unveils plans for 550-person central office in Sparwood

Teck appears to be following through with it’s plans to construct a new central administrative building in Sparwood that it announced it was bringing back to life back at the end of 2021.

In a presentation given to the District of Sparwood council at the September 6 meeting, the project manager for the ‘New Sparwood Administrative Office’, Michael Hick gave a high-level overview of the project. Beyond the schematic designs, the project has has geotechnical investigations done, and design development is in the works.

The building is located on a Teck site at the Middletown Crossing commercial area. Original plans for the building were approved in 2018, but shelved in 2019.

This time around, Teck’s time-frame for ‘substantial completion’ of the project is towards the end of 2024, with permits to be secured at the start of 2023, and construction to start shortly after then for a construction time of a little under two years.

Hick said that workers were expected to be moving into the building towards the end of 2024, into 2025.

The building itself will be almost 117,000 square feet over three stories, with the capacity for 550 occupants, which according to Hick “represents the vast majority of (Teck) staff currently in Sparwood,” that are currently spread over four offices. Located near the downtown core of Sparwood, the new building will be accessible by vehicle and cyclists with 230 parking spaces. It will also make use of the pedestrian tunnel under Hwy. 3, allowing for workers to access the lot easily on foot.

Hick said the building was being designed with sustainability as a key factor, including energy efficient lighting, a reduced carbon footprint, solar panels on the roof, EV charging stations and more, while the building will have no natural gas and instead be all-electric.

The building is also being designed to be mindful of the health and wellness of its occupants, with post-COVID19 grade HVAC systems, lots of natural light, outdoor amenity spaces and access to nature, and has also been designed to have environmental targets in regards to re-usable water, rainwater harvesting, drought-resident landscaping and more.

“The key benefits of a new building is it will be a centralized building to enhance the work experience and facilitate further teamwork and innovation,” said Hick.

The building will also allow for the release of Teck’s currently leased buildings back into the rental market.

READ MORE: Teck resurrects central office plan for Sparwood