Cornerstone has been providing strategic and facility planning services to the public sector since 1973. As one of the first firms in Canada to specialize in facilities programming, we have continually evolved our practice to reflect changing organizational needs, technologies, and community contexts. From the outset, we made a deliberate choice to work across sectors and levels of government rather than focusing on a single domain. This breadth of experience has strengthened our understanding of how diverse organizations plan, deliver, and adapt their services.
Our History
Our history is defined by curiosity and continual advancement. Over five decades, we have drawn insight from a wide range of contexts to inform our planning methods and strengthen the quality of our work. Today, we continue to look forward, incorporating emerging trends and research into our approach to engagement, feasibility analysis, and strategic planning for the public sector.
Cornerstone Services For Businesses And Communities
We are a consultancy focused on strategic, operational, and facilities planning for public sector organizations. Our work supports clients in defining service models, aligning resources with organizational priorities, and planning for long-term sustainability. Typical projects include feasibility and needs assessments, functional and space programming, organizational and operational reviews, and the development of long-range master plans and phased implementation strategies.
Our team also provides specialized services such as demographic and demand analysis, benchmarking studies, and space optimization strategies. We work closely with Indigenous communities, municipalities, health authorities, and public institutions to ensure that values, culture, and community priorities remain central to every plan. Each project is grounded in data, context, and collaboration, producing outcomes that are both practical and forward-looking.
The Cornerstone Model
Our work is guided by a conceptual planning model developed from general systems and decision-making theories. The model views an organization’s resources, including human, facilities, equipment, information, and financial resources, as interconnected elements that together support its mandate and services.
By examining how these resources interact, we are able to identify how changes in one area influence others, and how facilities can best support evolving needs. This approach provides a structured and holistic understanding of organizational function and enables us to define planning solutions that are adaptable to an uncertain future.
Our Projects
Cornerstone specializes in strategic planning for public sector organizations; in particular, the infrastructure and organizational requirements that support them. Cornerstone has designed and carried out over 1,000 projects in support of a wide range of high-profile planning initiatives for the public and private sector organizations throughout Western Canada.
Our projects span sectors, from health to education, communities to operations, justice to fire halls. We service partners in government, Indigenous communities, and the private sector. As our projects typically have long range timelines of 20+ years, our commitment is to provide our clients with the tools needed to make informed decisions about resource requirements to meet their mandates in an ever-changing environment.
