People
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Nicholas Sills - Principal
M.Sc. BFH, B.Sc. UBC Nelson, BC, Canada Interests: Ski touring, hiking, motorcycle travel, construction |
Brad Sills - Retired
B.ESc. Trent Whistler, BC, Canada Interests: Camping, nordic skiing, Search and Rescue, wild fire management. |
Vision |
Mission Statement |
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We intend to see the Pacific North West develop a strong culture of enduring, culturally significant, and inspiringly integrated built spaces with natural environments.
Whirlwind Consultants strives to ensure forward thinking principles are incorporated into local construction and value added manufacturing. |
To enable clients to add lasting value to their portfolio, whether it be with a specific construction project, or commissioning of a new manufacturing facility.
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History
Whirlwind Consulting started in the late 1970's when a young man, Brad Sills, moved to Whistler, BC. He had a dream to build world class homes in the newly birthed resort mountain community. Spending much of his early days mountaineering in the Spearhead range, Whirlwind's name comes from one of the local peaks south of Fissle and Overlord. By the 2000's Whirlwind had become a revered timber frame company known amongst the best in the Sea-to-Sky corridor. Brad's eldest son, Nicholas had been working in the company learning the basics of timber framing. In 2006 Brad ceased operations of Whirlwind Homes to pursue his other life passion, Callaghan Country Wilderness Adventures.
Nicholas headed off to university to further his education in construction by studying a B.Sc. at the University of British Columbia in advanced wood products processing. This education paired with a minor in commerce quickly enabled Nicholas to find a role building unique timber based projects with StructureCraft Builders. Nicholas eventually decided to further his education in advanced timber construction techniques with new perspectives by taking a M.Sc. of Wood Technology in Timber Engineering with the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland. It was during his time in Europe that Nicholas searched for new ways to optimize and integrate building design linked to analytical data. The concept for multi-criteria optimization of hybrid timber structures was born as a master's thesis project. The rebirth of Whirlwind took place when Brad and Nicholas partnered on the Garibaldi Fire Hall project to upgrade the system from a concrete structure to a complete Cross Laminated Timber project as one of the first in North America. Nicholas then went on to work with Structurlam Mass Timber corporation for the next 8 years, launching new products, design guides, technical project delivery systems and massive projects, such as Walmart's New Home office and Google's Borregas.
In 2022 Nicholas relaunched Whirlwind as a consultancy service focusing value added timber business analysis, technical project management, and Mass Timber construction optimization.
Nicholas headed off to university to further his education in construction by studying a B.Sc. at the University of British Columbia in advanced wood products processing. This education paired with a minor in commerce quickly enabled Nicholas to find a role building unique timber based projects with StructureCraft Builders. Nicholas eventually decided to further his education in advanced timber construction techniques with new perspectives by taking a M.Sc. of Wood Technology in Timber Engineering with the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland. It was during his time in Europe that Nicholas searched for new ways to optimize and integrate building design linked to analytical data. The concept for multi-criteria optimization of hybrid timber structures was born as a master's thesis project. The rebirth of Whirlwind took place when Brad and Nicholas partnered on the Garibaldi Fire Hall project to upgrade the system from a concrete structure to a complete Cross Laminated Timber project as one of the first in North America. Nicholas then went on to work with Structurlam Mass Timber corporation for the next 8 years, launching new products, design guides, technical project delivery systems and massive projects, such as Walmart's New Home office and Google's Borregas.
In 2022 Nicholas relaunched Whirlwind as a consultancy service focusing value added timber business analysis, technical project management, and Mass Timber construction optimization.
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