Over the last few months, the SSISC field office, located in Whistler, received a facelift – and it’s the kind of #TransformationTuesday we are all about!
Together with the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE), with whom we share a building, SSISC submitted a joint grant application to the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation. The goal was to make both our shared and separate office spaces more functional so that we use the office space to do our best work.
Let’s take a look what the space was like before the upgrades. While the space was certainly usable, it certainly wasn’t optimal!
The process
Upon receiving the news that the grant proposal had been approved, AWARE and SSISC put their heads together and hatched a plan for how they wanted the space to function. The goal was to create additional workstations that staff could use as needed; each station would include an external monitor, mouse and keyboard.
In order to save on space (and to make room in the budget), it was decided that the desk chairs would play double duty around the conference table, when necessary.
Next came time to place the furniture order, which wasn’t without its own dose of excitement! Labour and materials shortages meant furniture availability was not guaranteed, adding to the other shipping delays. In hindsight, this additional increased our excitement for the new and improved office space!
We actually received the desk chairs and monitors in May 2023, well ahead of the rest of the furniture. We thought, what better way to break the ice and get to know our summer hires than to have them pair up and build office chairs?
December 2023: Furniture arrives!
Christmas came early for us, as a few weeks before the holidays we received the rest of the furniture needed to complete the office makeover. SSISC and AWARE staff (and keen board members) came together for an afternoon of life-size puzzles… I mean, IKEA furniture assembly!
The reveal
At long last, the office upgrades are completed! We added curtains and two nature-related prints by Squamish artist Sarah Keller (not covered by the grant).
The new workstations are sleek and functional, with continuous desk space along the wall (made of bamboo countertops). The cabinets that hold the tabletops offer additional storage space for office supplies, radio chargers and much more.
Have a look for yourself – we wouldn’t want to toot our own horn, but we are beyond jazzed about the SSISC/AWARE office makeover!
And if you’re curious how much cardboard we had to recycle afterwards, the answer is A LOT!
Winter 2024: a new shower!
Shortly after the rest of the upgrades were completed, the Resort Municipality of Whistler swooped in with an upgrade of their own: transforming our old, tiny shower (that sat in a closet space, without room to change) into a standalone enclosed room. Needless to say, we were elated with the change!
It may seem odd to be so happy with shower upgrades in an office setting, but our field team uses that shower regularly in the summer months. Fieldwork can be messy, so we are glad to offer our staff the ability to clean up at the end of their work day.
We want to thank the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation for their generous grant, and the Resort Municipality of Whistler for their continued support. By allowing us to make our space more functional, we will be able to pursue our mandate of fighting the spread of invasives in the Sea to Sky more effectively.
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