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BC Hydro breaks ground for Prince George regional office

PRINGE GEORGE – BC Hydro is building a new regional operations centre in Prince George. At an event today, Hon. Pat Bell, MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie,Hon. Shirley Bond, MLA for Prince George-Valemount, Shari Green, Mayor of Prince George, Councillor Louella Nome, Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, and David Lebeter, VP of Field Operations and Safety, BC Hydro broke the ground for construction.

Serving over two-thirds of the provincial land base, the new centre will incorporate energy-efficient and conservation measures, and will incorporate pine beetle wood products.

The new building will meet post-disaster requirements of an Emergency Operation Centre. It will be able to function in the aftermath of a natural disaster such as a major earthquake. 

As economic development thrives in the north, this field office will be even more important to ensuring that BC Hydro can safely deliver electricity to our residential, commercial and industrial customers.

The 200 employees of BC Hydro’s Prince George operations will move over to the new facility in early 2014. Work is underway already with construction of new parking areas. 
 

FACTS - BC Hydro Prince George New Regional Field Office

• Prince George is home to one of BC Hydro’s largest regional operations in the Province of B.C. The new field office will serve over two-thirds of the provincial land base, including 160,000 business and residential customers in northern BC.
 
• The regional office services communities as far away as Fort Nelson (816 km), Masset (830 km) and Atlin (917 km by air).

• The field office will support 200 staff from various business groups with the majority comprising technical, design and field staff that are directly involved in the maintenance and expansion of our distribution and transmission systems.

• The building will have several sustainability features with energy efficient and conservation measures. The building design will include pine beetle wood products.

• The new building will consolidate staff and operations from three sites in order to improve work flows through appropriately configured space for vehicle maintenance, storage and inventory of equipment and materials. This will enable Hydro crews to improve reliability of service through quicker deployment of its resources.

• The decision to replace existing work space in Prince George comes after a full review of various options. Redevelopment was deemed necessary due to the condition of some facilities with deteriorating buildings, electrical and mechanical systems; impaired emergency response capability and employee safety issues. 

• The new building will be 85,000 square feet and have a life expectancy of 75 years. Construction costs are $25 million.  Estimated completion is mid-2014.

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Contact:
BC Hydro Media Relations
Phone: 604-928-6468