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LiveSmart BC Community Hero

LiveSmart BC Community Hero: Mike Owen

It only stands to reason that a recycling yard embark on a re-development project that utilizes a host of materials on their "second life."

That's just what happened at Ladner Reach Marina up on River Road West. Wholesale renovations were recently wrapped up and managing director Mike Owen says he's proud the vast majority—he estimates around 90 per cent—of what went into the changes did not come new from a lumber yard, garden centre or steel mill.

In fact, some of what's "new" down on the river front has some unique B.C. history.

For a start, the large bollards lining the front of the marina property might look familiar if you have a very keen eye for detail and were a visitor to the EXPO 86 grounds.

"We bought those after EXPO," says Owen as he conducts an impromptu tour of the site on a rare sunny afternoon in October. "They were part of the Ship of Dreams."

The Ship of Dreams was a fantasy vessel/sculpture encased on a concrete base on the world's fair grounds that people could tour.

The bollards have been cleaned up, repainted, fitted with new lights and serve as a nice introduction to the site that accommodates access to 28 float home berths.

To provide storage for the float home residents, Owen reconditioned ocean containers by cutting doors into the sides of them to produce a series of secure lockers.

Steel used for new railings for walkways leading to the floating boardwalks were also taken from the Ship of Dreams salvage.

A pair of massive buoy markers were purchased from the federal government, cleaned up, rewired and fitted with new lights and now serve as dramatic bookends on the site frontage which stretches roughly 1,000 feet.

Even the landscaping used topsoil purchased from the Burns Bog landfill.

Owen says it gives him a good feeling knowing that just a little more effort and planning made the project possible with a minimum of new material.

"It was a slow process to get it all done, but pretty satisfying," he says.

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