Villagers
I'm Andrea Nylen
OWNER + Building Code Lead
totemica consulting
Regina, SK
What is your current job role and building code experience?
I founded Totemica Consulting Inc. with my BFF, Kelsey Longmoore, in the spring of 2023. My role with Totemica is Building Code Lead and I love to help architects, designers, owners, developers, realtors, (really anyone with code questions) with anything building code related. My previous building code experience is as a building official with the City of Regina reviewing commercial building permits and as a code consultant for other firms. I also currently teach three fire and life safety building code courses in the Architectural Technologies program at Saskatchewan Polytechnic.
What are you passionate outside the office?
I love to spend time with my family and outdoors. One of my favourite places to visit is Clear Lake, Manitoba where you will find me hiking through the forest; swimming, boating and wake-surfing in the lake; or enjoying a peanut butter dipped ice cream cone while walking the shoreline at sunset.
What are the biggest challenges facing the building code industry today?
One of the biggest challenges is working with building owners and designers to encourage them to employ or engage building code expertise to ensure code issues are flagged and resolved early during project design. During my time as an Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), I often heard designers use previous buildings they had worked on to determine what was allowed and therefore was assumed to meet building code. Other times I would hear that the adjacent building had a similar design, so why was their design not allowed? The most important thing is to compare each project to the building code rather than other projects. The building code is not straightforward and takes a lot of effort to understand and that’s where building code experts come in handy.
Andrea and Kelsey graduating from the University of Regina’s Environmental Engineering program in 2009.
Andrea and Kelsey standing near a herd of goats after founding Totemica in 2023.
What impact do you hope to have at Kilo Lima?
I am so excited to be included as a villager for Kilo Lima! Collaboration and knowledge sharing in an online platform is exactly what the code industry in Canada needs. I look forward to contributing what I can and learning along the way.