October SBA Class

I thought this would be a good way to communicate with the class and at the same time have a place where you can make comments and add information. I noticed many of you taking pictures last weekend, and hope that you will post those as well.

Here is a review of the Speakers we had last class and their contact information.

Stephen Rees was born in 1949 in East Ham, London, England and attended East Ham Grammar School. He then went to the University of Nottingham. After graduation he worked for British Waterways Board and the Greater London Council. He studied part time at the London School of Economics and has a Masters Degree in Urban and Region Planning. When the GLC was abolished he joined the UK Department of Transport as an economist but after three years decided to emigrate to Canada and become a consultant. He travelled widely and worked on transport projects across Canada as well as in Iran, St Lucia, Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Seeking a more settled lifestyle he joined the BC Government as an Economist at the Ministry of Energy, but when civil service reorganization closed the Energy Management Branch he left for BC Transit in Vancouver, which subsequently became Translink.

In 2004 he left Translink and spent some time looking for new outlets for his energy. He started a blog (http://stephenrees.wordpress.com) which now has a wide readership, and has regular commentary on planning, transportation, energy use and related issues. He also works the graveyard shift at weekends in the summer on a swing bridge. He is an avid photographer and enjoys sharing his pictures on flickr.

Stephen is involved in local environmental activism fighting the current proposals for expanding freeways, ports and airports and is a member of the Livable Region Coalition. He is also part of the campaign to bring back passenger rail for the Fraser Valley. For fun he cycles and is trying to find the time to grow vegetables.


Chris Taulu is the Centre's Office Coordinator responsible for liaising with the city of Vancouver's planning staff, Translink officials, the local Business Improvement Association, and the Vancouver Police Department. She also communicates with the residents of Vancouver regularly to ensure that the Centre continues to excel in furthering the interests of the community. Chris has spent the past thirty years as a community activist, being one of the founding members of the Collingwood Neighbourhood House, as well as the Collingwood Community Policing Centre. Chris continues to be the mainstay of the community evidenced by her inexhaustible effort and dedication in serving the public's interests.Collingwood Community Policing Centre 5160 Joyce Street Vancouver, BC V5R 4H1 CanadaPhone: (604) 717-2935 Fax: (604) 430-4955 Email: chris@collingwoodcpc.com

Next month we will start on Energy. Our first speaker will be Albert Bicol from Cobalt Engineering.

Albert champions the use of sustainable solutions in his projects. He has extensive expertise in modeling building energy usage, thermal comfort and indoor air quality conditions.
Albert has a wide range of experience in Canada and the US, including the Sustainable Master Plan Design for the Kwantlen University College and a ‘heritage’ retrofit for the Edgewater Casino (the largest application of displacement delivery ventilation in North America).
Other projects include building systems modeling and design for the Montenay Burnaby Incineration Plant’s office building, a fully underground library for a private college (both with a goal of zero net purchased energy/GHG emissions) and a new 75,000 ft2 lab-based teaching facility for the University of British Columbia. Albert provided the concept design for the new Langara College Library, which won an international Holcim Award. Albert’s latest project includes leading the Sustainable Master Planning of the 20 building (8 city blocks) site for Southeast False Creek, the future home of the 2010 Olympic Athletes Village. This project includes the design of a 61 unit seniors housing complex with a Net-Zero Energy/GHG emissions goals.
As a LEED Accredited Professional, Albert performed reviews for the USGBC on projects applying for LEED certification and now heads Cobalt’s team for the review of project applications for the Canada Green Building Council. He was also recently appointed by the City of Vancouver Council to serve on its Urban Design Panel – only the second Mechanical Engineer to serve in this capacity.
Albert has been invited to deliver over 90 presentations and has been a keynote speaker on sustainable building design and the true “Net Zero” approach in Canada, the US, and Asia. He has also volunteered to educate elementary school children on climate change. Albert was named as one of Building, Design and Construction’s 2007 ‘Top 40 Under 40’. This annual competition acknowledges industry leaders.

On Saturday we will have Jennifer Sanguinetti and Maninder Dhaliwal from Stantec.

Jennifer Sanguinetti, P.E., P.Eng., LEED® AP
Principal Buildings Engineering, Vancouver, British Columbia
Jennifer is one of Stantec's original environmental design leaders with over 10 years
of experience in mechanical engineering. Her interest in sustainable design began
when she first started with Stantec and resulted in the success of a number of
energy efficient projects. She knows the importance of having buildings work with
the environment, as opposed to being self-contained and working against the
surroundings. Jennifer seeks low-tech solutions for her sustainable designs, and
prefers to keep the design simpler, with more natural systems.
Jennifer first joined Stantec in 1994. She has worked on a variety of projects
including institutional, commercial and residential work. She is particularly adept at
quantifying and predicting building performance. Jennifer is one of Stantec's energy
modeling specialists with considerable experience with a wide variety of simulation
software and is very familiar with energy management incentive programs. She also
has extensive experience with LEED and other green building certification programs,
including those for new and existing buildings. She is a LEED Canada faculty
member and a member of one of the Canada Green Building Council's LEED
assessment teams.
Jennifer has extensive experience teaching about sustainable design practice and
principles. These assignments have included being part of Pacific Gas and
Electric’s Energy Efficiency lecture series in San Francisco, CA and speaking at the
annual meeting of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.
She now manages Stantec's Concepts group, a team that specializes in sustainable
design services, looking for opportunities to optimize a client's building for the
occupants, the environment and the bottom line. She was named one of Business in
Vancouver's "Top 40 under 40" achievers and entrepreneurs in 2003.

I don't have Maninder's bio at this time, but last year she gave a fantastic talk on Light and Lighting. She is extrememly knowledgable onthe topic and a great speaker.