A new home, with room to grow

HSA REPORT, DECEMBER 2014

By Val Avery, President

HSA's first office was a little place on Kingsway.

As the number of members grew steadily, so did the need to find new space. We soon moved to an office on Hastings at Boundary, staying there until 1994, when we moved to Metrotown. Only a few years later, in 1998, we moved to the offices many of you know on Joyce Street.

Now, it's time to move again.

For the last few years, we've found it harder to work effectively in the current space. There just isn't enough room for meetings, training, and in order to serve the members better we need room for staff to work individually and collaboratively.

I'm excited to announce our new office location at 180 East Columbia Street in New Westminster, a few blocks south of Royal Columbian Hospital. The new building has greatly improved training facilities and technology features that will allow us to enhance our education programs. We will also now have the space to hold more union meetings on site. That means we'll save money on renting facilities for regional meetings, bargaining conferences and steward conferences.

It's designed with flexibility in mind. As our member servicing needs change, we can adapt the building itself to match these needs. It also has the potential to be expanded by some 9000 square feet should we need the extra space.

It's centrally-located, with easy access to Highway 1 and the airport, and it's just steps away from Sapperton Skytrain station.

As with the offices on Joyce, HSA will own the new building, and it's a significant asset. it also has some revenue-generating possibilities; we're looking into options for renting out our training and meeting spaces, for example.

It's our home as of January 5, and many of you will get to know it well.