Our Ottawa-based team is small — comprising of five women: Victoria Angel, Heather McArthur, Brittney Anne Bos, Raluca Dobrotescu, and Kseniia Beliaeva — but we are mighty, with varied backgrounds and strengths that we bring to all our projects. Together, we embrace every challenge, often working in collaboration with our Toronto and Montreal-based ERA colleagues, on large, symbolically charged projects in the heart of the National Capital Region.
We have the privilege of working where we live and have nurtured a deep knowledge of Ottawa. We bring our experiences of the city and its landscapes into our projects.
Our work therefore covers the sweeping and varied landscape of Canada’s National Capital, where we contribute to projects of all sizes and scopes, from brief consultations on single residential properties to the largest rehabilitation project in Canada. Our team answers many calls and it makes us proud to be part of the region’s continuing evolution.
We regularly take a “river-focused” approach to our projects, especially those in the capital core. Our project work contributes to a renewed appreciation of the incredible waterways throughout our city, particularly the mighty Kichi Zibi (Ottawa River).
Our projects benefit from our multidisciplinary backgrounds, allowing us to tackle a significant range of scales and type. Our skills and talents range from conservation planning, architectural design, heritage recording, and materials conservation to storytelling, interpretation, and working in close collaboration with communities and the Algonquin Anishinabeg First Nations.
Our technical backgrounds and expertise in conservation inform every project, as we work to ensure that a building or site’s unique history, values, and materials are preserved while exploring innovative approaches to integrating contemporary functions to historic places.
Past and current projects include the Senate of Canada Building Rehabilitation, the National Arts Centre Rejuvenation, the West Memorial Building Rehabilitation, the Rideau-to-Rideau Cultural Landscape Study, the Judicial Precinct Master Plan, the Centre Block Rehabilitation, Kìwekì Point, and the Alexandra Bridge Reconstruction.
Each of these projects has involved engagement with layers of cultural and symbolic meaning derived from the Indigenous, urban, parliamentary, and capital histories of the land, intending to sustain and renew these sites for the 21st century.
Meet the team
Victoria Angel
Victoria has a background in art history and heritage conservation (BA Hons in Art History, MA in Heritage Conservation, University of Ottawa) and has worked in the public, private, and academic sectors over her 30-year career. Her areas of expertise include cultural landscape research and analysis, heritage evaluation, conservation planning and guidance, and heritage impact analysis — typically at a campus or neighbourhood scale.
Victoria joined ERA Architects in 2012, commuting from Ottawa to Toronto weekly over a six-year period. In 2018, she helped establish ERA’s office in Ottawa, which she has led since that time.
Her projects have ranged from neighbourhood heritage studies in Hamilton and Ottawa and campus studies for the University of Toronto to large-scale comprehensive rehabilitation and redevelopment projects. She has served as heritage planner on the Senate of Canada Building Rehabilitation, the National Arts Centre Rejuvenation, the University College (at the University of Toronto) Rehabilitation, the Booth Street Redevelopment, and Kìwekì Point. Her current projects include the Centre Block Rehabilitation and the Alexandra Bridge Redevelopment.
Heather McArthur
Heather is a registered architect (OAA) with a multi-disciplinary background in Communications (BA Hons, University of Ottawa), Urban Development (BA Interdisciplinary Studies, Carleton University), and Architecture (M.Arch., Carleton University). Through this varied academic exposure, she has acquired a deep appreciation for the complexities of working with historic buildings and sites and developed a keen focus on the critical intersection of architectural conservation, contemporary design, and development. She specializes in heritage conservation, adaptive reuse, and heritage planning.
Since joining ERA in 2019, Heather has worked on the conservation, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of various buildings and sites. Her current projects include two large-scale comprehensive rehabilitation projects: overseeing the contract administration of heritage scope on the West Memorial Building Rehabilitation and applying her skills in heritage impact analysis on the Centre Block Rehabilitation.
Outside of her professional role, Heather has also been a long-time and active participant in community heritage organizations, including co-organizing the local chapter of APT. She is also an avid, if amateur, photographer. Heather is fluently bilingual in English and French.
Brittney Anne Bos
Brittney Anne is a historian with a varied educational background, including a PhD from Queen’s University (History), a Master of Arts – Canadian Studies Heritage Conservation (Carleton University), and a Bachelor of Arts Honours – Canadian Studies and Art History (Carleton University). Her primary area of expertise is commemoration and interpretation, but she regularly offers research and analysis to cultural landscape studies, site histories/backgrounds, Historic Context Statements, heritage evaluation, and conservation plans.
Brittney Anne joined ERA Architects in January 2020 and is an office resource for historical information about Ottawa, Canada, and beyond. Her projects have included commemorative studies of all sizes, including Kiweki Point in Ottawa and various development sites in Toronto. She has also contributed research and analysis to cultural landscape studies in the National Capital Region and is involved in comprehensive rehabilitation projects, such as the Centre Block Rehabilitation. She teaches regularly as a contract instructor at Carleton University in both the School of Canadian Studies and the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation on a wide range of topics, including commemoration, feminist theory, and critical nationalism
Raluca Dobrotescu
Raluca is a heritage professional specializing in conservation and sustainability.
She holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Engineering and a Master of Applied Science in Structural Engineering with a focus on Heritage Conservation from Carleton University.
Raluca joined ERA in 2020 and is an invaluable member of the Ottawa team who conducts specialized site review of complex projects, Revit modelling, building condition assessments, and research.
Kseniia Beliaeva
Kseniia Beliaeva is an architectural professional specializing in conservation and sustainability.
She holds a Bachelor of Architectural Studies in Conservation and Sustainability from Carleton University and has expertise in heritage planning, architectural representation, and project coordination.
Kseniia joined ERA in 2021 and brings her experience in high-profile heritage rehabilitation projects, including the Centre Block Rehabilitation (CBR) and West Memorial Building (WMB), and conducting research in the House of Commons on John A. Pearson’s “special rooms” in the Centre Block, informing heritage documentation and conservation strategies.
ERA is proud to celebrate International Women’s Day by spotlighting our “small-but-mighty” women-led Ottawa office.
