WesternOne Equity Income Fund's Modular Manufacturing Division Britco Wins Four International Awards for Olympic Legacy Housing

News provided by

Apr 18, 2012, 11:14 ET

VANCOUVER, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - WesternOne Equity Income Fund ("WesternOne Equity") (TSX: WEQ.UN, WEQ.DB.B, WEQ.DB.C) today announced that its Modular Manufacturing Division, WEQ Britco LP ("Britco") has won four international awards for its Olympic Legacy Affordable Housing project.

As the two year anniversary of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games passes, local modular building manufacturer Britco stepped onto the Modular Building Institute's (MBI) podium in Orlando, Florida to accept awards for its Olympic Legacy Affordable Housing projects. The Langley-based Company won four awards for its social housing facilities located in Chilliwack and Surrey.

Britco was an Official Supplier of the 2010 Winter Games. As part of the Olympic Legacy Affordable Housing project, Britco partnered with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) and BC Housing to design and manufacture 300 temporary rooms that were used by 600 officials in the Whistler Athletes' Village during the Games. To fulfill a mandate to ensure meaningful social housing legacies after the Games, the 300 temporary rooms were disassembled and relocated to five communities across British Columbia, (Chilliwack, Enderby, Saanich, Sechelt and Surrey) where they have been reconfigured into 156 permanent social housing rooms in facilities with community support services.

The Chilliwack Olympic Legacy Affordable Housing project was the result of a partnership between the Province of B.C., the City of Chilliwack and the Chilliwack Community Society. The four-story permanent social housing facility is composed of 18 modules that were used in the Whistler Athletes' Village during the 2010 Winter Games. The first floor incorporates office and meeting space with other amenities including a games room and lounge, commercial kitchen and dining room as well as ancillary space for youth services. There are eleven suites on each of the three floors with the second floor for youth and the top two floors for adults.

Not only did the MBI present Britco with a First Place award for the Chilliwack project but also the Judge's Choice Award for best modular building in North America. The Judge's Choice Award recognizes the project that received the highest overall score from the judges among all the modular building projects submitted to the MBI across North America.

"We are very proud that our partnership with both VANOC and BC Housing resulted in a sustainable social housing legacy that is having an impact far beyond 2010," explained Britco President Mike Ridley who accepted the awards in Orlando.

Britco also won awards for its Surrey Olympic Legacy Affordable Housing project. The Surrey project was the result of a partnership between the Province of B.C., the City of Surrey, Fraser Health and Coast Mental Health. The supportive housing facility and the largest of the five Olympic Legacy Affordable Housing projects, is a three-story building with 52 studio apartments that provide safe, supportive housing for seniors, people with disabilities and individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The facility was designed to meet the City of Surrey Urban Design Guidelines and too complement the neighbourhood in which it is located. Britco received Best in Show and First Place for the project. The judges highlighted the architectural excellence, technical innovation and energy efficiency of the social housing facility.

This is the second time Britco has won best modular building in North America for a 2010 Winter Games-related project. Britco's Whistler Athletes' Lodge was recognized with the same award in 2010. The four-story, one hundred-room Lodge was also designed and built by Britco. One third of all the athletes who stayed in the Whistler Athletes' Village during the 2010 Winter Games, stayed in accommodations designed and built by Britco.

About the Modular Building Institute (MBI)

The Modular Building Institute is the trade association representing companies involved in the manufacturing and distribution of commercial factory-built structures. Founded in 1983, the Modular Building Institute is a non-profit trade association serving the commercial factory-built buildings industry

on an international scale. Regular members are manufacturers and dealers of commercial modular structures, while associate members are companies supplying building components, services, and financing. It is MBI's mission to grow the industry and its capabilities by encouraging innovation, quality, and professionalism through communication, education and recognition.

Additional information about Modular Building Institute is available at www.modular.org.

About WesternOne Equity

WesternOne Equity seeks to primarily acquire and grow businesses in the sector of construction and infrastructure services in order to generate stable and growing distributions to its unitholders as well as to achieve overall capital appreciation.

Additional information about WesternOne Equity is available at www.weq.ca or www.sedar.com.

About Britco

Britco is the one of the largest manufacturers of commercial modular buildings in North America. Britco also has one of the largest lease fleets of temporary offices, construction site trailers and storage containers in Western Canada. Britco has four production facilities, three located in Canada in Agassiz and Penticton, British Columbia, and Edmonton, Alberta, and one located in the United States in Waco, Texas. Britco has a customer base that ranges from the commercial, residential, government and infrastructure sectors, to the resource, energy and mining industries in Western Canada and the Southern United States. Britco is headquartered in Langley, British Columbia, and in addition to its manufacturing facilities, has branch offices in Nanaimo and Kelowna and sales offices in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta.