The Vela by the Sea

The Opportunity

The Vela by the Sea is a mixed-use development located at the northwest corner of 4^th Street and Oakville Avenue in the Town of Sidney. The development is a four-story building, consisting of commercial units on the ground floor and 11 condominium residences above. The development was designed by VDA Architecture and built by Norman Homes.

The Approach

The Vela by the Sea is a mixed-use development located at the northwest corner of 4^th Street and Oakville Avenue in the Town of Sidney. The development is a four-story building, consisting of commercial units on the ground floor and 11 condominium residences above. The development was designed by VDA Architecture and built by Norman Homes.

Norman Homes engaged Westbrook Consulting to prepare the detailed design drawings for the site grading, servicing, and the road improvements on both 4^th Street and Oakville Avenue.

An interesting aspect of the project was the improvement of Oakville Avenue. The project upgraded the avenue from a gravel road to a meandering woonerf style road, constructed of permeable brick pavers. Woonerf style roads grant equal rights of way to pedestrians, bikes, and cars. Another interesting aspect of the development, was the way the developer camouflaged the BC Hydro transformer in front of the building by using a decorative wrap that had the same stone face pattern as the building.

Westbrook worked closely with the Town of Sidney and the various utilities to design the underground servicing within the 4^th Street frontage as there was a significant amount of infrastructure within the project’s sidewalk area that had to be accommodated for in the detailed design.

Construction commenced in the spring of 2015 and was completed in the fall of 2016. 

Key personnel: Bruce Crawshaw; Kevin Hossack