History of Residential & Building Designers in BC

• 1979 - Canadian Association of Professional Building Designers (CAPBD) formed as a non-profit BC Society in Kelowna, BC by Joe Giroux, Michael Giroux, Bert Tisher, John Schlosser and Louie Torok.

  First Executive:
  Joe Giroux, President
  John Schlosser, Vice President
  Michael Giroux, Secretary Treasurer
  Bert Tisher & Louie Torok, Directors

  It is formed for the purpose of uniting the Building Designers of BC, to promote and maintain high professional and moral standards in order to protect the publics’ interest, to safeguard the interests of building designers, to develop and maintain high standards for the examination of candidates for admission to CAPBD, to advance building research, to develop and improve design education.

• 1979 – Founding Members of CAPDB certified by the American Institute of Building Design (AIBD) after undertaking a process of written and oral exams and having samples of their work scrutinized by the AIBD Board of Examiners.

  CAPBD Board of Examiners established to process new applicants. At this point it is determined whether they qualify as Residential or Building Designer Members according to academics, experience and ability as attested to by the scope and quality of their work. If the BOE determines an applicant is deficient in certain areas they are given a course of studies to pursue before they are allowed to apply again.

  Recruitment of fellow Building Designers begins. Eventually membership rises to 80 - 100 members.

• 1984 – An affiliation is formed with the Society of Engineering Technologists of BC, as a result quite a number of our members are able to pass the examination process and become either CET’s (Building Designers) or C.Tech’s (Residential Designers) in that organization.

  Eventually SETBC becomes the Applied Science Technologists & Technicians of BC (ASTTBC).

  ASTTBC takes over the volunteer administration of the CAPBD and renames it the Building Designers Institute of BC (BDIBC).

• 2008 - AIBC invites BDIBC members to become associate members of that organization. This AIBC Council initiative is rejected by a vote of the membership.

  Once again the Residential and Building Designers look for another solution which comes in the form of an invitation from ASTTBC to once again join their ranks.

• 2020 - BCABD created to protect the interests of the public by raising the standards for professionalism and ethics in the building design community through education, networking, and organization.

  One of the primary goals of BCABD is to see the rights of professionals to practice building design protected.

  “BCABD is working to create a team approach to design and construction within British Columbia.”