Asset Management Program (Phase 1) for Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw Nations

Project Highlights

The Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Nations (GNN) community has over 915 members. Gwa’sala and the ‘Nakwaxda’xw were amalgamated in 1964 and have significantly harmonized their community governance and administrative processes.  GNN owns and operates over $33 million in infrastructure (excluding housing) and delivers a wide variety of essential community services.  Most members live on the Tsulquate reserve, adjacent to the town of Port Hardy on the North-eastern tip of Vancouver Island.

In the spring of 2015, GNN invited KWL to facilitate the development of Phase 1 of its Asset Management Program.  The program is designed for the management of GNN-owned infrastructure including water, wastewater, road, building, housing, and solid waste assets.  KWL worked closely with GNN’s Asset Management Advisory Committee throughout each step of the program’s development.

Because a core objective of the project was building community capacity, regular working sessions with the Advisory Committee were a key component of the program.  Phase 1 involved conducting a baseline analysis to support future budget, maintenance, and replacement decisions by GNN’s Advisory Committee.  The focus was on creating a consolidated inventory, understanding the value of existing assets, and determining the condition of all GNN-owned infrastructure.  Mobile technology was used to develop a workflow and support initial training for locating service connections in the field.  Building condition assessment sheets were created to understand the condition of non-INAC-funded assets, and to provide a method for staff to undertake ongoing assessments and communicate their results to decision-makers in a consistent manner.  To build community awareness, the inventory has been accompanied by a collection of factsheets outlining the state of GNN’s assets.  A renewal plan was prepared to show where major investments are needed over the next five years and beyond.  At the end of Phase 1, a roadmap was developed with key targets and strategies for the highest priority assets with next steps identified by the Advisory Committee.