After hours of planning and preparation, our CBEL project with the Richmond Food Bank finally comes to a close. On Monday, we set up our booth for the CBEL poster session in Kaiser 2020/30.

Everyone on our team was present during the session, and we thoroughly enjoyed presenting the results of our work around the redesigning of the Wellness Center to our fellow colleagues, teaching assistants, faculty members, and the visitors that came out to take a look at everyone’s posters. Looking back on the project really helped us review and identify the key lessons we’ve learned and skills we have nurtured throughout the process. Not only were we able to address the clients’ needs, but we were able to create a design that would optimize the space in the wellness centre synthesizing the factors to consider voiced by the volunteers of the food bank. Their years of experience at the Richmond Food Bank were an irreplaceable asset that helped guide our decisions and we are pleased with the fact that our proposal is being considered due to its efficiency and cost effectiveness. Reusing many of the food bank’s resources cut down on costs, and with our team’s mobile design, this layout can be transferred to another institute once the food bank’s lease ends in the next three years.

Essentially, our team was able to provide a solution to create more space in the wellness area, which in the long run, will benefit the visitors of the food bank. The removal of the cluttered shelves behind the tables creates more space for the tables to be pushed back against the walls, which also creates a gap between the distribution process and the wellness centre. A definitive boundary is created as a result, which sets the wellness center apart from the rest of the food bank. With the inclusion of a color coding mechanism, healthcare information and other community promotions can be easily found and the installation of a lamp above the bulletin board will also serve to highlight the welcoming atmosphere of the wellness center. Implementing rubber bins below the tables provides easy access and storage for the volunteers to store or retrieve the cleaning equipment that used to be stored in the shelves along the walls.

These changes should result in a more spacious, appealing, and organized area that will allow the community to move about the area freely, allow them to locate specific information at the wellness tables with color coded categories, and most importantly, raise the community’s awareness of the wellness center by capturing their attention.

Overall, our roles as engineers are not simply limited to finding a single solution, but to come up with a solution that will suit the needs of a community. Context plays an important role in determining the type of solution to be enforced. In this case, we were able to come up with a design that was within budget, and would increase the efficiency of the activities that would take place in the wellness area. Working with the Richmond Food Bank has shown us the importance of communication with the stakeholders. Communication with the client ensured smooth operations and guided our team’s judgement towards a solution that fit this context.  Without their input, we may have invested a considerable amount of time and energy on a solution that may not have met the requirements necessary to address the optimization issue in the wellness centre. Since our CBEL project was to be completed in a certain time frame, it was crucial that deadlines were met such that the deliverable could be presented on time, and so having a timeline that outlined the specific tasks in addition to referring to weekly meeting minutes was an integral part of planning ahead. Implementing the plans was simple as long as we had a detailed plan with action items, but would require time. The profession of civil engineering consists of many facets that require a vast amount of soft skills aside from the capability to carry out calculations. Effective communication, good time management, and detailed planning are essential project management skills that will increase the likelihood of the success of a project in addition to building positive relationships between clients and engineers.

The CBEL experience has been an exciting adventure, and we’re a bit sad to bid it farewell, however, as with most things, all things must come to an end. CBEL Team V like to thank the Richmond Food Bank and their amiable staff for giving us an opportunity to work with them, our mentor, Wendy, for her patience and continued guidance and support, Dr. Nesbit and the faculty members involved with the organization of the CBEL projects. It has been a pleasure working with everyone.

Our story ends here, but who’s to say this isn’t just the beginning of another?