By Allan Taylor
Frameworks – Manager of Innovation, SWR
There’s something about arriving in Vancouver that always stirs up a sense of possibility.
Maybe it’s the drama of the mountains dropping into the ocean, the beach volleyball games lining the sand at Jericho as the sun sets behind the silhouettes of paddleboarders. Or the sprawling sea wall loop around Stanley Park, where seals surface beside you in the harbour and a giant beachside drumming circle pulses into the evening air.
But possibility isn’t perfection.
This trip has also been a reminder that cities, even ones celebrated for their innovation and livability, carry their own deep challenges. Vancouver is in the midst of a profound housing and public health crisis. It’s impossible not to notice the growing gap between wealth and precarity – people visibly unwell and unsheltered just blocks from glass towers and high-end retail. This doesn’t detract from the inspiration I’ve found here, but it does add dimension. It reminds me that place matters, and that the work of transformation is always more than technical.
Why I Came
I’m in Vancouver to explore how other cities are grappling with building decarbonization, grid alignment, affordability, and resilience – and to bring those lessons home.
Over the past year, our team at SWR has been building out Frameworks: A Building Innovation Exchange in partnership with Grand Valley Construction Association, a new program aimed at equipping our local building industry with the tools, examples, and relationships needed to accelerate the transition to efficient, smart, and healthy buildings.
It’s modeled in part after Vancouver’s own ZEBx program, and it’s focused on the real-world implementation of high-performance practices: from data mapping and retrofit pathways to electrification, policy alignment, and hands-on industry training.
This trip, centered around the CAGBC Building Lasting Change conference, site visits, and meetings with local leaders, is part inspiration, part inquiry, and part test. I’ll be sharing some reflections in this blog series, both to distill what I’ve learned and to explore whether there’s appetite locally for a future collaborative study trip – one that blends exposure to leading practice with moments of connection to place.
Because it’s one thing to read about projects. It’s another to stand inside them, ask questions, and look out from their windows toward what’s next.
What’s Ahead in the Series
This is the first of three posts I’ll be sharing from the trip:
- Part 2 will dig into the people, projects, and policies leading the way – from wastewater-powered district energy systems to real-world deep energy retrofit projects.
- Part 3 will focus on training, trades, and transitions – and how Vancouver’s post-secondary institutions are helping industry meet the moment.
Through it all, I’ll be tying these insights back to the work we’re doing through Frameworks, and to the opportunities in front of us locally. Whether you’re in policy, construction, real estate, design, utilities, or community advocacy, I hope this series helps spark new conversations and new connections.
Let’s build forward, together.
