combined the Victoria Build-
ing Industries Exchange, the
Vancouver General Contrac-
tors Association, The Heavy
Construction Association of
B.C. and the Vancouver Con-
struction Association. The
newly improved association
now served trade contrac-
tors and suppliers. Thirty-four
years and 650 companies lat-
er, the ACA came to be very
influential in the region and
in 1999, the name changed
once again -- this time to its
current name: the Vancouver
Regional Construction Asso-
ciation (VRCA). With a ter-
ritory stretching from Whis-
tler to Hope and a suboffice
in Abbotsford, the VRCA has
certainly made its mark in the
region and continues to serve
its members in the construc-
tion industry.
Over the years, the VRCA has
grown but its purposes and
priorities always remain rela-
tively the same. Early in its
history, the new Exchange
established a plan room.
Members, particularly trade
contractors, would no longer
need to obtain their own set
of plans or rely on the good
graces of general contractors
by using their plans to take off
the quantities on sections of
the jobs they wished to ten-
der. Plan rooms have contin-
ued to be popular and provide
a source of income to succes-
sor associations. Education
has also always been a top pri-
46
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