When given the chance we jumped on the opportunity to lead a design build project for another family owned island business like Perma Construction. Teaming up with Ryan Vending and Oughtred Coffee and Tea back in 2007 to build a new commercial facility was an exciting project to undertake. John Oughtred was kind of enough to answer a few questions regarding his project.

Perma Construction – Having the opportunity to team up with your brother, owner of Ryan vending to build a purpose built building tailored to the needs of your businesses must have been an exciting venture for you. What were the motivations for you to build new?

John Oughtred – We had done several renovations to our Ellery St. location and felt for the long run it was time to relocate. After doing research for available property in the GVRD the Vanalman property seemed an excellent opportunity.

Perma Construction – Being a design build project where the contractor is part of the design process, there were numerous meetings held in order to understand the two businesses needs and wants. These meetings helped define your operational requirements and translate those requirements into working drawings which met your budget constraints. Was this task enjoyable and did you find that the design/build relationship was an effective way to approach this project?

John Oughtred – Yes working with Perma and their team of professional associates was invaluable in our minds in order to achieve a quality result.

Perma Construction – Every project has challenges, yours in particular required extensive site development to create a level building lot. This work included the construction of high retaining walls in the back corner of the property. Were there any other challenges that arose during the project?

John Oughtred – For sure the site development became an issue especially the “wailing wall”, the west wall, the constraints put on by our neighbors and the extra time and money it cost us to comply. The water retention issue also became an overkill in my mind but again required by Saanich

Perma Construction – Oughtred participates in good environmental practices, taking part in various recycling programs did this play a role when executing this project and influence your decision to design a state of the art surface water drainage system? Any other key features you like about the project that relate to sustainability?

John Oughtred – Environmental concerns were really heating up in the early years of 2000’s and we were caught right in the middle with many items as you mentioned the “water retention” concern seemed the most notable … however in hindsight we are glad we continued and ended up with a quality project, albeit more costly than we had hoped, but a solid investment for the future.

Projects like Oughtred’s head offices in Victoria are just that, investments into the future. John has since stepped down as President from Outghtred, now his sons Mike and John Jr. carry the torch onwards and upwards. Quality projects like this are a testament to the hard work and dedication put forth by the individuals who made this project a success.