AS business picks up in the northwest, preparations are being made by a local consulting firm to keep up with the pace.
Triton Environmental Consultants' business has been ramping up alongside major projects, its staff nearly doubling in the last two years and expected to triple come December.
It has been looking for a new space to house workers and also more of its equipment — eyeing three lots on the corner of Greig and Apsley.
Last week, city council approved zoning changes to accommodate a new use for the space, bringing the company that much closer to building new office and storage space there.
While the company, which provides environmental consultation and monitoring services, has yet to purchase the property, which takes in the former Greyhound bus depot and a Chinese restaurant, Triton project manager Cody Latimer said the company wanted the zoning change approved prior to buying.
“This is not a confirmed sale,” he said. “If we do decide to move and we do decide to purchase, then the building is applicable to our business.”
But Triton needed to come up with basic plans for what it would do with the space, which would involve a complete renovation and building a storage space in the current parking lot.
The purpose of rebuilding a facility would be “to show our commitment to the area and obviously to have a nice presence within the community and a nice work space for our employees,” said Latimer.
Triton is now in the Trigo building on Kalum but has outgrown the space.
New facilities would provide 2000 to 3000 square feet of storage space with roughly 3000 square feet of office space, said Latimer.
“We're steadily increasing and we're pre-planning for what's anticipated to come near August,” he said. “The budget for the project hasn't been confirmed.”
Triton now has 14 people in Terrace, up from six two years ago. It expects to have 20 on staff by the end of the year.
Clients in the region include Shell Canada, Kitimat LNG, Swift Power, Pacific Northern Gas and Bechtel (Rio Tinto Alcan's primary contractor on its Kitimat aluminum smelter rebuilding project) .