Toronto post and duplication stalwart Creative Post is undergoing an expansion that has seen the 13-year-old shop open a new facility in Ottawa to focus on digital services, along with plans to add 3,000 square feet to its Toronto operation within the next year.

Additions in Toronto will include new suites to accommodate Creative’s Flame and Smoke effects machines, plus a new Discreet Logic setup for high-definition readiness.

Creative, which generates over $5 million in annual revenues, anticipates an increased focus on new media projects such as website development and cd-roms through the coming year in both Ottawa and the company’s Toronto digital division, which just took delivery of a Sonics dvd package.

The company’s new 5,500-square-foot facility, located between downtown Ottawa and Kanata, was set up to capitalize on the area as a growing technology hub, says Creative’s president Ladi Horak.

‘To be the best in Toronto, you need to concentrate on production, but to be the best in Ottawa, you need to be high-tech,’ he says.

The Ottawa office, which opened under the moniker Creative Digital Media, is already taking on video dubbing work and will begin generating multimedia projects early this year.

An Avid 8000 suite will also be added once the ball gets rolling, Horak says.

Bob Moy, former head of video duplication services, is heading up Creative’s Ottawa operation.

The Toronto and Ottawa operations, plus Twister Digital Design, a visual effects/animation offshoot of Creative, will be tied together over a network, which will allow for work to flow easily between offices, Horak says.