Emma Macdonald: When you first started, did you have the same commitment to describing Westbank as a ‘practice’? I would say that is something that sets you apart from other developers in the city.

Ian Gillespie: That was definitely an evolution. That word was an evolution. One of the things you have to keep reminding yourself is that Westbank is a work in progress. I will say, though, that I never really thought of what I was doing as an avenue to making money. That wasn’t the thing that interested me. That is a good way to build a business: When you’re not doing it for the money, you become able to risk it all. I think any entrepreneur who built a business from scratch would probably tell you the same thing.