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New civic facility name celebrates New Westminster’s rich history
New Westminster, BC – The City of New Westminster has borrowed from its rich history in officially naming its new multi use civic facility, Anvil Centre. The new name will be featured on signage and marketing materials for the facility currently under construction in New Westminster’s downtown.
“The anvil is a symbol of craftsmanship and strength and recalls New Westminster’s proud roots as one of British Columbia’s original industrial centres,” said Acting Mayor Bill Harper. “Naming our new civic facility Anvil Centre is a great way to celebrate our more than 150 year history and pay tribute to the people who built the Royal City literally from the ground up.”
The result of a collaborative process involving representatives from the City’s business and cultural community, the name was directly inspired by the anvil’s unique place in New Westminster history.
“The naming process involved input from community stakeholders including Tourism New Westminster, Arts Council of New Westminster and Massey Theatre Society working with consultants, architects and a number of city departments including Parks, Culture & Recreation, Communications, the New Westminster Museum and Archives and the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame,” said Greg Magirescu, City of New Westminster Manager of Arts & Cultural Development. “The result - Anvil Centre - is something uniquely “New Westminster” that truly captures the essence of this place.”
The Anvil Centre logo is a stylized representation of both the soaring architectural lines of the new multi use civic facility, as well as an inverted anvil. The overlapping layers within the logo reflect the multiple functions and activities that can be found within Anvil Centre itself. The colours in the logo reflect the traditional blue and gold of the City’s official colour palette.
“Just as the anvil reflects the energy that is put into it, the name and logo also symbolizes the energy that will emerge from the countless functions, events and activities that Anvil Centre will be home to for generations to come,” said Magirescu.
The naming and logo design process of Anvil Centre was facilitated by David Martin of Hyphen Communications which also included development of a brand platform, brand narrative, naming option and graphic standards manual.
This process was a perfect example of how a brand identity should be created,” said Martin. “The name and identity aren’t fabricated or artificial. They came directly from the real, tangible history of New Westminster.”
Project background
The new Anvil Centre and office tower project is underway in downtown New Westminster at the corner of 8th and Columbia and is scheduled for completion in 2014. This exciting project is being partially-funded through a Development Assistance Compensation (DAC) agreement between the Province of British Columbia, BC Lottery Corporation, Starlight Casino and the City of New Westminster.
The new iconic facility will serve the community, stimulate tourism and spur economic development through its many amenities including a 350 seat theatre, conference and meeting facilities, multipurpose rooms, arts studios, museums and tourist information centre. The eight storey office tower will deliver 139,000 square feet of class A LEED Gold office space into the downtown, directly across the street from SkyTrain.
For more information on this project, click here.
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Contact: Greg Magirescu, Manager of Arts & Cultural Development
City of New Westminster
Blair Fryer, Communications Manager
City of New Westminster