COURTESY WESTBANK JULY/AUGUST 2017 BCBUSINESS 39
B
esides developers, those irms range
from architects, structural engineers
and urban design consultants to model
makers, concrete forming specialists and
property marketers. With expertise honed by
helping to create a new standard for livable, high-
density residential developments, often called
Vancouverism, they've made their mark on cit-
ies from San Diego to Dubai to Dalian, China. But
this thriving export business mostly •ies under
the radar back home.
When it comes to world cities with an in•u-
ence on urban development and design,
Vancouver punches above its weight, says David
Thom, president of
IBI Group Inc., a global archi-
tecture, planning, engineering and technolo€y
‚rm. "There's a lot to learn from what's hap-
pened in Vancouver, and that's been driven by a
bit of a push and pull between the public sector
and the private sector," notes Vancouver-based
Thom, the only
IBI senior executive outside
Toronto. "Some of the things that the city does
from an urban design perspective and what's
important have become embraced by the devel-
opment community over the years. And that's
really put Vancouver ahead of the curve."
Other Vancouver developers with a footprint
outside the province include Bosa Development
Corp., whose founder, Natale (Nat) Bosa, entered
Seattle in the 1970s before expanding his reach
throughout Southern California. Concord Paci‚c
Developments Inc.—its master-planned com-
munity on the former Expo 86 lands became a
model for Vancouverism—is working in Toronto,
London and Calgary. Onni Group is building sev-
eral major projects in downtown Los Angeles,
while Intergulf Development Group is active in
Alberta and California.
By looking beyond B.C., these companies have
created work for a host of local consultants and
subtrades. "Basically, we followed developers
down south," says Geo˜rey Glotman, managing
principal of structural engineering ‚rm Glot-
man Simpson, whose ‚rst U.S. job was in 1998,
for Intergulf in San Diego. "We coattail on them.
It's a pretty easy way to move around the globe."
At home, Vancouver developers don't enjoy
the same respect as they do abroad, contends
veteran real estate marketer Bob Rennie. "We
look at our kids, and we don't see how they
grow up, and we always see them as our chil-
dren," Rennie says. "But the world looks at this
"There's a
lot to learn
from what's
happened in
Vancouver,
and that's
been driven
by a bit of
a push and
pull between
the public
sector and
the private
sector"
— David Thom
IBI Group
LOOKING AHEAD
Westbank founder Ian Gillespie
and three of his company's
works in progress
Mirvish Village,
Toronto
3rd and Virginia,
Seattle (proposed)
Alberni by
Kengo Kuma,
Vancouver
