Colvile Medical Centre is a five story medical office building with a five story parkade attached to the back, bringing much needed parking to the Hospital Campus.

This ultra modern concrete, steel, brick and glass contemporary styled building was named Millstone Medical because the Millstone River, the only river within the Nanaimo City Limits, is where the water powered saw mill was located. This mill cut all the lumber to build the original buildings of Colviletown (Nanaimo’s former name). Also, this River still serves Nanaimo well as the natural water course returning the “storm sewer” water from Nanaimo’s buildings to the sea. In 2015 the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board recognized this building for significantly improving the quality of commercial buildings in Nanaimo.

Homes were “moved” to another subdivision to make room for this multipurpose commercial building, located across the street from the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Covered parking and elevators to all floors make this modern handicap accessible facility a pleasure to work in or visit. The reinforced concrete and structural steel assembly format combined with the red brick cladding and oversized windows give this building a timeless beauty that will always hold its value. We chose the “Harbour City Health Centre” name, said Bob Wall, because “the harbour city” has been Nanaimo’s “nickname” ever since Francisco Eliza, the Spanish explorer, chose this location for his base of explorations in 1791. He chose this location because it was the only spot with two harbours. Wentjuysen Harbour (now called Nanaimo Harbour) from where the Port Authority controls shipping, and Departure Bay Harbour (which serves as the transportation hub for all of Vancouver Island).

This mixed-use construction project in Parksville BC showcases a blend of functionality and modern design. The building features a dental office on the main floor, providing essential services to the community, while the second and third floors house four spacious, high-quality two-bedroom residential units. These well-appointed apartments bring much-needed rental units to the area, contributing to Parksville’s growing housing market.

This is a leading edge “mixed use” medical/dental/residential facility. It is a non-combustible steel, brick, stucco and glass building, built to the strictest codes of the day, the offices and third floor residences sit prominently atop the concrete underground gated secure parkade. We named this building the Seven Sails Professional Building because the seven oversized skylight wells located on the west side of the royal blue pitched metal roof, look a little like the sails of a Spanish Galleon out to sea. These skylights flood the core of the third floor with natural light, to compliment the exceptional natural light and the spectacular Mount Benson views the oversized windows on all sides of this building afford. These “live-work” hybrid buildings R.W. (Bob) Wall Ltd. have been building all over Nanaimo are just another way fledgling businesses can get into their own facilities.

There couldn’t be a more appropriate location for the Widsten Property Management Inc “mixed use” building. Once Lindsay Widsten hired R.W. (Bob) Wall Ltd. to build his new “mixed use” office building in 2010, he went looking for an “anchor association”. He did great, signing the Multi-Cultural Association. As Nanaimo has always been a multi-cultural town. The first immigrant miners were Europeans, but by 1877 there were also many Snuneymuxw first nation and 300 Chinese people working in the Nanaimo and Wellington mines.

This building’s 750 square metre “foot print” has many special features, on several levels. A few of which are: three residential suites, a day care/nap room, two dozen offices, and six classrooms where English as a second language is taught, along with job search skills. All of which adds up to a very valuable amenity for the people of Nanaimo.

The architect’s use of many exterior materials to clad the building give it one of the most interesting looks in the “Old City” neighbourhood. Brick cladding, painted concrete, metal cladding, Hardie Panel, and heavy timber (with clean stain), all certainly make this building stand out.

In the 1800’s Bowen Road was nothing more than a horse and wagon trail between the frontier coal mining towns Nanaimo (population 1,600) and Wellington (population 1,000). However, travel between the two towns became easier in 1878, when Joseph Ganner inaugurated a passenger stage coach service on this road twice a day. This service continued until the railway arrived. This eventually became the “Old Island Highway”. Today it is a very busy “corridor zoned” thoroughfare in Nanaimo with more than 20,000 cars passing this prime location at the corner of Bowen and Madsen daily.

R.W. (Bob) Wall Ltd. was not the first to develop this busy corner property by building “Madsen Centre” here. The first developer was also a carpenter, a Dane named Knute Madsen, who constructed a lumber yard here a hundred years ago.

This heavy gauge “mixed use” professional building is built to a “non-combustible code”. It was assembled using structural steel columns and beams, re-enforced concrete floor slabs on steel “Q-Deck”, with two-hour fire wall across the west property line. All while the 26-foot radius blue steel and glass canopy, the round tinted glass “curtain wall” corners and oversized parapet “crown moulding” detail, give this “counterparty architecture” and award-winning timeless beauty.

After decades of this contaminated site being left vacant, Norwell Corner was designed to address the natural features of the site. With it’s two-storey curved curtain wall to mimic the curve in the road, it’s sun shading devices to add dimensionality to the large reflective plane, distinct roof top screen and it’s custom cut block paneling, Norwell Corner is hard to miss.

In 1863 the Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company had surveyors devise a town plan for Nanaimo. The wealthier part of the middle ward in Victorian times soon became known as “Nob Hill”. It was here on the edge of a sheer rock bluff that R.W. (Bob) Wall Ltd. was asked in 2009 to build a mixed-use professional building, for a private oral facial surgical centre and offices for a prominent accountant firm.

After numerous designs were considered, and architects changed, the project eventually became the winner of the “best exterior appearance” category in the highly regarded design competition sponsored by the Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA).

Several problems were encountered building on bare rock, up to within three feet of a sheer rock bluff. To start with the building “foot print” was painted on the smooth sloping rock face. Then a blasting company was hired to drill 2.5 feet down into the rock at two-foot intervals, all around the footprint. The Hilti-Hit two-part epoxy system was then used to permanently secure the concrete foundation to the rock face, by embedding the foundations reinforcing steel right into the two-part epoxy adhesive via the cored rock holes around the entire footprint.

Another problem became evident that fall. Water started coming into the crawl space through the cracks in the rock face. An interior drainage system complete with the sump and electric pump was installed to get the water back outside the crawlspace. A dehumidifier was also installed to keep the humidity at optimal levels for records storage in the crawlspace. Voila, another unusual site challenge solved!

The Salvation Army arrived in Nanaimo in 1888. Meetings were held in the City Hall. In 1892 a lot was dedicated at the corner of Winfield Crescent, not Nicol Street, the present site of the Salvation Army Citadel. By 2010 Nanaimo’s homeless problem was taking root, and the “Army” decided to do something about it! The adjacent property, accessed from the top of the bluff on Haliburton Street, was the original Nanaimo City Dump. The “Army” hired R.W. (Bob) Wall Ltd. to build the New Hope Centre addition and cleaning up the old dump site wasn’t the hardest part of the job.

The original 1800’s Citadel building was built on “flagstone” foundations (not concrete), a common practice in the 1800’s. This meant special reinforced masonry shear walls were built, and reinforced 8” concrete floors installed, to give this four storey concrete addition the structural integrity the adjacent lot never had.

For much of Nanaimo’s early life it was called “Black Diamond City”. Where coal was king, and the hospitality industry thrived. There were more than fifty hotels in Nanaimo already in the 1800’s. And in 2009 another was added by R.W. (Bob) Wall Ltd. This being the Ramada Inn on the corner of Rosehill and Hwy 19A. R.W. (Bob) Wall Ltd. was told in no uncertain terms the contract to build this sixty-five-unit hotel was conditional on building it in record time.

So, a new approach to building hotels was in definingly in order. Wall started one crew on foundations on site, while having another crew start building all the wall, floor & roof sections at another location. Once the concrete footings & foundations were in place, many tractor-trailer-loads of pre-built wall, floor, and roof sections arrived everyday. A very large crane was kept on site to offload the prebuilt panels, and stand them up in-place, coming right off the delivery truck! Even the furniture and linens were ordered several months earlier than normal.

Many neighbours commented that they were amazed a hotel could be built so fast. Somehow R.W. (Bob) Wall Ltd. had managed to construct the quickest hotel assembly Nanaimo had ever seen.

The Occidental Hotel was built in Nanaimo in 1887 by Samuel Fiddick to accommodate patrons of the E & N Railway station, which was located across the street. Locals still call the iconic hotel by its original “nickname”, the Oxy. By 2005 the hotel was to find itself in the centre of what had become the “Old City Quarter” of Nanaimo. The decision was made by the ownership to hire R.W. (Bob) Wall Ltd. to build the “Oxy Liquor Store”, to better serve the vibrant residential community now surrounding the hotel.

The new liquor store was designed with special attention to detail. Architectural features and trims were chosen to pay homage to the 118-year-old “Grand Dam’ next door. The “goose neck” exterior lights, the antique brick facing, and the 12/12 “steep pitch” gable roof complete with “knee braces”, all make this building fit perfectly into the neighbourhood.

The two extra rows of reinforcing steel in the top and bottom of the building foundations, the one- & two-hour firewalls, and the complete “rain screen system” on exterior walls will ensure this part of the Occidental Hotel story goes on for many more years.

Gloss Dental was a tenant improvement spanning both the upper and lower floors of the space, brought together by a new interior stairwell to create a cohesive and functional dental office with an upscale West Coast feel.

The standout feature of this project was the custom millwork throughout- from the reception area to the dental ops, sterile bay, staff area and offices- paired with warm, refined woodwork on the upper floor that delivers a rustic yet modern and functional space.

Ladysmith Dental involved the transformation of a heritage building in downtown Ladysmith. Ladysmith Dental has a 2750 sq. ft. concrete slab on grade floors. This renovation involved concrete trenching, reframing, new electrical and plumbing systems, and upgraded air and vacuum systems, as well as a complete interior and exterior finish package. 

We are proud of the outcome and were very thrilled to work with the Team at Ladysmith Dental.

Holly Tree Dental was a fast-paced tenant improvement that included a new waiting room/reception area and new finishes throughout a portion of the existing clinic.

The highlight of this project was transforming the old exposed trusses with custom millwork and built in accent lighting.