Camp McLean, Scouts Canada

Along with helping children become well-rounded individuals, Scouts Canada supports environmental conservation. Children learn not only about themselves, but also how they can take part in caring for the earth. As a testament to this value, Scouts Canada decided to demonstrate their teachings on environmental care taking through their thoughtful construction of two new buildings at Camp McLean. Camp McLean is located along the Little Campbell River outside of Langley, British Columbia. It is one of the primary scout camps for the Scouts Canada Fraser Valley Council. This location services over 6,000 members.

As the Scouts looked for an environmentally friendly and energy efficient way to construct their new 2,600-square-foot machine shop and 2,300-square-foot storage building, it seems appropriate they chose to use Insulspan® Structural Insulated Panels.

“The number one reason we used SIPs was sustainability,” said Barney Dohm, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of general contractor TECHnic Construction. “Scouting is very much about leaving no trace in the environment, so we wanted to have as small of a footprint as possible, and we wanted to reduce energy as part of sustainability.”

One unique characteristic of building with SIPs is that they deliver a continuous layer of expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation. EPS SIPs dramatically reduces heat loss caused by to thermal bridging and air leakage. However, the design of each building created the tight building envelope a little differently. For example, the new machine shop used only SIP roof panels to increase its R-value. In contrast, the adjacent storage building used SIPs in both its wall and roof construction. Incidentally, because Insulspan SIPs come in Ready-To-Assemble panels, the Scouts saved precious resources during the construction process.

 “There is little waste on the construction site, and… scheduling and site coordination are big pluses.” – Barney Dohm, TECHnic Construction

“I’m very impressed with the Insulspan SIP systems,” said Dohm. “There is little waste on the construction site, and as far as construction is concerned, the scheduling and site coordination are big pluses.”

In the end, the advantage of using Insulspan SIPs on the project was a win-win for all scouts. As noted by Insulspan’s Dave Stevenson, who worked with Dohm on the project, SIPs helped support the Scout mission. Specifically, they reduced energy costs. This allowed more funds to directly support Scouts Canada’s mission; namely of providing values-based support for youth in the community. Furthermore, by building environmentally friendly structures the Scouts can spend more money on what really matters–helping to develop well-rounded kids.

“We are proud to support Scouts Canada on a project that will benefit kids in the community for many years to come,” said Stevenson.