From Spreadsheets to Skylines — Building for People, Place, and Planet

This week’s highlight was visiting the memorable Menno Hall site for its topping-off ceremony. After months of working on spreadsheets and pro formas, processing construction loan draws with colleagues at Montage Development Consultants, and watching the numbers come together, standing on-site and seeing the building rise from vision to reality felt deeply personal.

Beneath the timber frame — surrounded by the many partners who worked tirelessly to bring this dream to life — HyLand Properties, Pacific Centre for Discipleship Association, SHAPE Architecture, Fast + Epp, Fastrek, Axiom Builders, BC Housing, Montage Development Consultants, and many others — I was reminded that, in the midst of a housing crisis, economic challenges, tariff pressures, and global uncertainty, building is more than concrete, steel, and wood. It’s about making hope real in the world for times like this.

Menno Hall will soon become a place where life and learning will seamlessly merge:

🏡 A home for students and community members.

🕊️ An academic and institutional Centre for Peace, rooted in the Mennonite heritage of reconciliation — focusing on peace studies, international development, and efforts that foster peace and prosperity in a world longing for healing from conflict and crisis.

🌿 A symbol of sustainable design and the strength of BC’s economy — built with mass timber, rainwater systems, and a courtyard “Grotto” that preserves mature trees and connects people with the places and planet around them.

British Columbia is emerging as a global leader in mass-timber construction, combining sustainable forestry, innovative design, and a commitment to low-carbon building. BC’s vision for a home-grown, renewable building economy is setting a new standard for the world.

Menno Hall is one example of that vision in action — a project that unites environmental innovation with a deeper social purpose, rooted in deep faith and in the common belief of what the world ought and should be, while supporting the local economy through BC’s growing mass-timber industry and skilled trades. It embodies an integrated vision of mutual prosperity — serving people, honouring place through stewardship and reconciliation, and renewing the planet.

As the final beam was lifted — signed and written on by BC Premier David Eby and diverse group of representatives from across the community, with words of peace for the building and for the world — we shared hopes and wishes for its successful completion, and for what Menno Hall will be and stand for in the world to come. 🌎

🔗 www.mennohall.com

#MennoHall #AffordableHousing #Sustainability #MontageDevelopment #MontageMagic #CommunityBuilding #PeoplePlacePlanet