XPost: van.general, can.politics   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   VANCOUVER -- Visual effects company Sony Pictures Imageworks will   
   relocate its head office from Culver City, Calif. to Vancouver and move   
   into a new 74,000-square-foot headquarters in Pacific Centre next year,   
   the company announced late Thursday.   
      
   The downtown Pacific Centre space — above a new Nordstrom store — will   
   accommodate up to 700 employees.   
      
   Imageworks, which recently completed work on The Amazing Spider-Man 2   
   and Edge of Tomorrow, employs about 150 workers in 32,000 square feet of   
   space in Yaletown.   
      
   Imageworks had maintained a satellite office in Vancouver, and a head   
   office in California since opening here in 2010.   
      
   It started with about 16,000 square feet of Yaletown space before   
   doubling in size in 2012.   
      
   Imageworks representative Steven Argula said Vancouver will become the   
   new head office almost immediately.   
      
   “We’re going to start referring to Vancouver as our headquarters as of   
   now, even though we’re not in the new space yet,” he said.   
      
   Argula said the two biggest factors behind the head office shift include   
   Vancouver’s growing base of talented visual effects workers and   
   provincial tax breaks designed to attract motion picture industry work.   
      
   The company’s California office employs about 270 workers — who were   
   told about the relocation on Thursday — and Argula said it’s still not   
   clear how many people will be employed there next year.   
      
   “We will maintain a small base in Culver City, which will basically deal   
   with L.A.-based clients,” he said.   
      
   About three dozen Imageworks employees moved from Culver City to   
   Vancouver earlier this year and more are expected to do the same by the   
   time the Pacific Centre facility opens on April 1, 2015.   
      
   “We’re not sure how many will make the move,” Argula said. “It depends   
   on who’s eligible and who wants to move and a lot of other factors.”   
      
   He said Imageworks isn’t certain how many employees will work in the new   
   Pacific Centre headquarters when it opens next year, as that will depend   
   on how many new projects the company lines up.   
      
   Argula said Imageworks’ Vancouver workforce will likely increase   
   temporarily from 150 to 350 before its new head office opens and the   
   company will consider leasing interim space before the Pacific Centre   
   facility becomes available.   
      
   The company’s Vancouver workforce topped out at 350 last year when it   
   worked on The Amazing Spider-Man 2.   
      
   Jason Dowdeswell will continue to lead Imageworks’ Vancouver operations,   
   while the company has hired Mark Breakspear as visual effects supervisor   
   and Shauna Bryan as vice-president, new business and production executive.   
      
   Breakspear and Bryan recently had similar roles with Vancouver-based   
   Method Studios.   
      
   Sony Pictures Imageworks isn’t the only new big development in   
   Vancouver’s technology scene.   
      
   Earlier this month, Microsoft announced plans to hire 400 new staff in   
   Vancouver and make the city home to its largest centre in Canada.   
      
   The move was cited as evidence of an upward trend for B.C.’s tech   
   sector, which has been through some rocky times.   
      
   The tech giant will be more than doubling its workforce here with the   
   opening of its new training and development centre.   
      
   The company’s investment is expected to total $90 million annually,   
   according to a recent study by Ernst & Young LLP. The jobs, which will   
   focus on Microsoft’s applications and services group, are in addition to   
   the company’s current 350-person workforce in Vancouver.   
      
   In 2013, Seattle-based online retail giant Amazon posted nearly 100   
   Vancouver jobs as part of its push onto the Vancouver tech scene.   
      
   The technology jobs included about 70 software development engineers, a   
   dozen program and product managers, and a handful of other highly   
   skilled positions.   
      
   Also last year, Gener8, a company that converts traditional film to 3D   
   and has worked on such blockbusters as Ironman 3, The Amazing   
   Spider-Man, Prometheus and Harry Potter, announced the hiring of 80 new   
   employees, adding to its 150 staff members.   
      
   That announcement followed a massive hiring spree by HootSuite at a job   
   fair a week earlier after it revealed that it had raised $165 million US   
   in venture financing.   
      
   A BC Stats report in May showed that the province’s technology sector   
   has experienced major growth and that the average salary in B.C.’s tech   
   industry is $1,440 a week, 60 per cent higher than the provincial   
   average of $870.   
      
   The report said that high-tech’s share of GDP grew by 3.4 per cent in   
   2012, revenues rose 3.5 per cent to $23.2 billion, and pay climbed 7.7   
   per cent to a total of $6.3 billion, the highest level ever for the sector.   
      
   bconstantineau@vancouversun.com   
      
   With files from Brian Morton   
      
   © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun   
      
      
      
      
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