Greg Baynton, chief executive of the Vancouver Island Construction Association, is retiring at the end of March after a decade at the helm.
Baynton was hired in 2006 to head the Construction Association of Victoria. He played a key role in amalgamating what had been four Island construction groups into the body that exists now.
The association has nearly 500 members and offices in Victoria and Nanaimo. Construction is a major economic driver on the Island, accounting for $1.4 billion in building permits last year.
Alan Fletcher of AFC Construction and chairman of the Association’s board of directors said Baynton’s contribution has been “phenomenal.”
Baynton was also instrumental in the creation of the Construction Council of Vancouver Island, Fletcher said.
The council collaborates to address and enhance capital public projects. Organizations involved include school districts and Island Health.
“We have integrated owners, consultants, contractors, all under one umbrella. We are looking at how we do business together and try to solve problems around procurement and all of these things,” Fletcher said. “There are so many things that Greg has been the driving force.”
The association is the public voice and a resource for the broader construction community on the Island.
“This was accomplished by building one-on-one relationships with key stakeholders and more broadly though the Construction Council of Vancouver Island,” Baynton said.
The Island Association received the Partner Association of Excellence award in March at the Canadian Construction Association’s conference.
The award recognized the new council as well as “ongoing efforts in building government relations that reflect the industry’s interest in procurement and the goal of fair, open and transparent best-practices for project delivery.”
The association takes a proactive approach to industry training and education, in encouraging women in the construction sector, and promoting trades training.
Born and raised in Victoria, Baynton, 62, said: “I’ve really spent my whole adult life in the trades world.”
Trained as a wall and ceiling installer, Baynton launched Frenette Plastering Ltd. With the arrival of the leaky building crisis, his next company, Coast Building Envelope Contractors, became one of the first building envelope renovators to be approved by the Home Owner Protection office.
