The Wood Innovation and Design Centre proposed for downtown Prince George may not end up as tall as first envisioned.
When making the announcement in Prince George last summer, Premier Christy Clark said the goal was to make the proposed 10-storey centre slated for Fifth Avenue and George Street the tallest multi-use wood building in the world.
However the province is reconsidering the height after many of the 34 firms responding to last fall's call for expressions of interest suggested shorter would be better, Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell said Tuesday.
"It's just that a significant number of those who submitted expressions of interest said that six storeys would accomplish the objective of an iconic building and would be easier and more timely to build," said Bell.
"That doesn't mean any decision has been made on the height of it, whether it's six or 10. It just means it's one of the things that have come up through that
process."
Details on the expressions of interest have not been made public for proprietary reasons, Bell said.
Under the B.C. Building Code, woodframe buildings can be constructed up to a maximum six storeys, but Bell said that limitation was not a factor.
"This will be one of the first building built in British Columbia... built out of cross-laminated timber."
The estimate for the public-private partnership
project sits at around $75 million.
The next steps are still being determined - whether to go through a two-stage process beginning with a request for qualifications from which a shortlist of bidders is selected or go straight to a request for
proposals.
"We're still considering both those options and that [decision] will likely take place toward the latter part of March," Bell said. "And we still want to see construction starting this year."
The building is intended to house academic and research programs focused on advancing B.C.'s expertise in wood-related products, although that was expected to take up about three floors while the remaining floors would be for private use - retail and residential and commercial leasing space.
The process remains on track to have the building completed by late 2014.
