March 2, 2021
Providing services in Geospatial and Emergency Planning & Mapping, Smarter Spaces saves their clients time, money and reduce liability by using industry-leading technology to capture existing conditions of buildings, real estate, and surrounding spaces. They are able to create highly accurate 2D CAD files, Evacuation Maps, Fire Safety Plans, 3D models, 360 HD virtual tours, BOMA Reports, BAM™ (Building Actual Modeling), clash detection, architectural visualization, and BIM (Building information modeling) which can be used for design, renovation, construction, and maintenance.
The world is evolving quickly, and people’s time and money are valuable commodities, Smarter Spaces takes pride in helping people make data-driven and cost-effective decisions to help quantify, understand and plan the spaces and environments that matter most to them and their business. They do this by using their industry knowledge, industry-leading technology, and software. Smarter Spaces works with anyone who owns, manages or leases space in buildings. Their clients include commercial, residential and industrial developers, property managers, brokers, universities, hospitals, museums, retail, engineers, architects, and general contractors.
Using 3D Models to make the World More Accessible
COVID-19 impacted all businesses across the globe, Smarter Spaces included. It took them a few months to get their bearings, and that they were able to maintain their focus on bringing value to their clients by saving them time, money and reducing liabilities and risk. Additionally, COVID-19 changed how buildings are being used and the Smarter Spaces team is utilizing their understanding of the built environment to help their clients understand what this means for them.
Their team is most excited about the opportunities ahead. With the evolution in technology, and being in the right place at the right time has set them up for growth- the pandemic has made the world a more accessible place, allowing the team to use Zoom to meet any client, anywhere, meaning no location is out of reach. Their technology is allowing them to also collect field data anywhere in the world and process it locally in Nova Scotia. In January, they were hired by a company in California to complete 2D Exiting Conditions Packages with 3D Virtual Tours for 38 stores in Vancouver, British Columbia. The journey for Smarter Spaces is just beginning and they are stoked!
Teamwork makes the Dream work
“In recent conversations with team members, what came through loud and clear to Dan and me as owners is the fact we listen” says Colin Gillis, Founder and CEO of Smarter Spaces. “We are open to new ideas, solutions and concepts. Workplace culture is evolving – when the COVID-19 state of emergency was first announced in March 2020, we responded immediately and shut the office down. The next day Dan and I were dropping off desktops and helping the team setup at home. With the creation of the Atlantic Bubble, we had a decision to make – pack up and head back to the office or drastically change the future of Smarter Spaces. Dan and I felt strongly that the choice was not ours alone to make, but the whole Smarter Spaces team. Overwhelmingly we all agreed that we liked working from home and we haven’t looked back. It has not been easy, we have had some hiccups and have done our fair share of running around with flash drives, but we are figuring it out and with access to reliable fibre Internet – things are working out. Where our culture goes next is an exciting opportunity for change, while connecting virtually can be hard, we are up for the challenge.”
When hiring new team members Smarter Spaces looks for people who are team players. Everyone has to be willing to chip in and solve puzzles together. There are skill requirements in certain roles such as REVIT expertise that can not be learned quickly, but beyond that, they are much more interested in understanding what people are passionate about and looking at how Smarter Spaces can provide fulfillment to their team members while building something bigger, something which finds untapped opportunity to further economic development and help Atlantic Canada grow and thrive!
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