HB Lanarc Principals

Doug focuses his work on HB Lanarc's land and environmental planning, site development, and communications initiatives. His recent projects include the Vancouver Island Conference Centre and the Island Corridor Foundation—an innovative collaboration between local governments and First Nations communities.

Doug also works on the company's environmental planning initiatives and innovative decision-support tools. He holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Manitoba, a Diploma of Landscape Studies from Edinburgh University, and a Bachelor of Environmental Studies.

The BCLA recognized Doug for Exceptional Contribution to the BCSLA in 2008, for making his accrued knowledge and commitment accessible to others within the profession.

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Originally hailing from England, Rob moved to BC in 1995 and fell in love with this province, its people and incredible landscape. Building on an early interest in geography, Rob’s passion is to help communities identify and implement practical solutions to the challenges of sustainability. This passion drove him to gain a masters degree at UBC’s school of Community & Regional Planning and to become one of the first planners in Canada to obtain the LEED green building accreditation.

As co-founder & principal of HB Lanarc Consultants Rob has worked on numerous forward-looking projects in western Canada including the Sea to Sky University in Squamish, East Fraser Lands and Southeast False Creek in Vancouver. He recently completed OCPs in Colwood/Langford and Central Saanich and is working with the Town of Smithers on their OCP. Current projects include a plan for the Squamish oceanfront, developing a Climate Framework Plan for the District of North Vancouver and a rural development proposal on Denman Island that hopes to protect 1200 acres of ecological habitat.

When not working you might find him hurling flies at coho on the Capilano River.

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Don brings over 16 years of experience both in private consulting and municipal settings, with an emphasis on Parks, Landscape, and Urban Design. Don has developed exceptional computer and graphic skills to provide visualizations of complex planning and design scenarios, either in computer generated photo‐realism, or more traditional hand drawn renderings.

Don has provided detail design and visualization services for ALRT transportation and urban
design projects in Richmond and Coquitlam. Based in HB Lanarc’s Port Moody and Vancouver
Offices, Don has been providing planning and design services to municipalities in the Lower
Mainland and various locations throughout the province.

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Mark‘s consulting work focuses on integrating sustainability principles into the mainstream development industry, with an eye to developing competitive advantage for his clients and their projects. He frequently works closely with development teams to find cost-effective ways of developing in a more sustainable manner, including projects from small infill to large-scale master-planned communities, in both the rural and urban context.

Mark has extensive public sector experience, including serving as the City of Vancouver’s first Manager of Sustainability. Mark was also the sustainable development planner and project co-ordinator for the Southeast False Creek sustainable urban development project, now the site of the Athlete’s Housing for the 2010 Olympics. His current work with local government focuses on city-wide sustainable development strategies for small and large cities across North America, including recently the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico and many cities in British Columbia.

Mark was selected as PIBC's Planner of the Year in 2010. He is sought after as a speaker and is widely known for his ability to “make sense of sustainability” in a pragmatic way that leads to action. In 2009, Mark was appointed as an advisor on the City of Vancouver's Greenest City Action Team alongside such leaders as Dr. David Suzuki, Former Premier Mike Harcourt, and Vancity CEO Tamara Vrooman.

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David has been pioneering new areas of practice for more than 33 years. He was a founding partner in the national firm of the Landplan Collaborative, and by 1981 built its Vancouver practice into a staff of ten. He then moved to start a Vancouver Island practice, and as the first Landscape Architect north of Victoria, built Lanarc Consultants with partners Doug Backhouse and Don Crockett.

In 2008, David conceived the merger of Lanarc Consultants with Holland Barrs Planning Group to form HB Lanarc Consultants. David practices as both a land use planner and a landscape architect, and is also heavily involved in green infrastructure planning and design. Many projects have focused on water – ranging from watershed planning to water conservation strategies, and waterfront improvements to watercourse restoration.

David’s passion is to ‘make sustainable development standard practice’. His clients are proceeding rapidly towards that goal.

The BCLA recognized Dave for Exceptional Contribution to the BCSLA in 2008, for making his accrued knowledge and commitment accessible to others within the profession.

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Vince Verlaan is responsible for ensuring excellence and innovation in HB Lanarc’s public process, community engagement, and stakeholder consultation work. He is a Provisional Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, and is a Principal of HB Lanarc.

Vince excels in developing and applying participatory tools and processes that greatly improve plans, projects, policies, and organizations. Building community capacity is a central goal.

With 20 years experience in diverse Canadian and international settings, he develops “strong engagement” initiatives linking different groups for their mutual benefit. Supporting effective collaboration, citizen involvement in governance, consensus-based decision making, action-learning, and positive change are his passions. Healthy communities, participatory governance, social inclusion, social capital, smart growth, and “genuine sustainability” are focus areas.

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