TECH TOWN: Govan Brown Opens New Kitchener, Ontario Office
You might not know it, but a small city in Ontario, Canada is rapidly becoming a mini Silicon Valley. About an hour and a half west of Toronto, Kitchener is seeing an influx of investment by technology firms. In fact, in the 2019 Deloitte “Technology Fast 50” list, the three fastest-growing Canadian tech companies are all from the Waterloo/Kitchener Region.
Canadian interior construction leader Govan Brown noticed this shift in the market and took action, opening an office in Kitchener last fall to support the construction needs of these growing companies and the expanding local commercial real estate industry.
Located at 87 King Street West in the city’s commercial core, the new office brings Govan Brown’s 25-year history of construction management and general contracting expertise closer to its clients in the Kitchener area.
“While we have been working with clients in the Waterloo/ Kitchener area for years, we really wanted to have a permanent home here to even better serve our clients on projects of all types and sizes,” says Joseph Kirk, president of Govan Brown. “We’re also able to leverage our wider network of resources if needed, which we think is a win-win scenario for our clients, our subcontractors, and our project teams.”
In fact, as the Kitchener office began taking shape, the Govan Brown team was already in talks with both existing and new clients about their upcoming projects so they could hit the ground running. In just a few months, they have begun projects for such clients as Marsh & McLennan Companies, Waste Management, Gowling WLG, and Deloitte, among others. What’s more, the western expansion has allowed the team to work for clients even further west, in cities like London, Ontario.
“We wanted to be closer to our clients and to the local trades and architects,” says Kirk. “It’s a huge benefit to have an actual, brick-and-mortar home base and to officially be part of the innovative and dynamic Kitchener community.”