INNISFAIL - Shovels will soon be in the ground on the east side of town for the construction of a multi-million-dollar state-of-the-art corporate headquarters for EQUS.
The new building at a two-and-a-half-acre site at 5120 - 40th Ave. will be the first true corporate headquarters of its kind for the 71-year-old rural electrical provider, which is the largest member-owned utility in Canada.
"It will be the corporate office for all of EQUS. We are really happy with the design we have chosen. The interior is really about our history, the past, present and the future, which is being brought together in the interior in the design," said Patricia Bourne, the company's chief executive officer.
The long-awaited project for EQUS, which provides electrical distribution services for 26 municipal districts and counties across the province -- including Red Deer and Mountain View counties, has been winding through the town's Municipal Planning Commission (MPC) approval process for the past year.
And now with MPC's approval completed, request for proposals (RFP) have been issued and construction is set to begin in May with an expected completion date of March 2020.
"We will get the shovels in the ground and get it built," said Bourne of the future two-storey building that will have just over 19,000 square feet of working space. The site will also be extensively landscaped with 71 parking stalls. A significant portion of the building will be solar-powered with a 52 kilowatt system that will generate 55,000 kilowatts of power per year. The new building will initially accommodate 35 staff members with room to grow to 50 in the future.
The future headquarters will be twice the size of the old building on 42nd Street that was built in 1986, and is currently serving as an area office and the company's main office. The old main local building has a smaller building beside it that was once used for board meetings.
"We grew so much that building now houses our IT department and our standards group, so we have really outgrown it," said Bourne, noting there is now no designated space for the board to meet. "We've had to seek alternative accommodations for board meetings, and we don't even have enough room for large staff meetings at all.
"The most people we can hold right now is about 10. That has been a challenge," she added. "We are looking forward to being able to move the board back where they belong into the main building to have their meetings, and get some additional room for everybody."
She said the old 42nd Street main building will still serve as the area office in the future, while the smaller adjoining one will be rented out to the community.
As for the budget to build the new headquarters, Bourne said that information cannot be released at this time because it is contained in the RFP but she did confirm it is a "multi-million-dollar" project.
"We have done preliminary work on that but because it is in the RFP process it's just not something we can release," she said.
In the meantime, Bourne said plans are already underway to have a community celebration for the new completed headquarters when it opens in the spring of 2020.
"We will have a groundbreaking ceremony as well," said Bourne, adding the new headquarters will enhance the company's profile in the Innisfail community.
"Raising the profile in the community and being part of it -- we are really looking forward to it," she said.
She added the project will also meets the needs of EQUS in a "corporate sense" because staff can finally all be together in a brand new modern home.
"Right now everybody is not together, because the space, you just kind of fill the space where you can get it in the (old) building " she said.
