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Making a difference in turbulent times - Meet our 2009 Movers & Shakers
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September/October 2009 | $8.00
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COMMERCIALWestjet’s green dream takes offP A G E 1 8
INFRASTRUCTUREWarm mix asphalt is paving the WayP A G E 2 8
INDUSTRIALmaking sure your site is secureP A G E 3 4
PLUS: New ideas emerge on managing moisture in the building envelope PAGE 75
Making a difference in turbulent times
Meet our 2009 Movers & Shakers
Naseem Bashir, Williams Engineering
Blaine Maciborsky, PCL
Mogens Smed, DIRTT Environmental
Mary Heinking, Fluor
Michael Flynn, UDI – Calgary
Boris Rassin, ATCO Structures & Logistics
John Holmlund, Focus Corp.
Paul Verhesen, Clark Builders
Christine Della Costa, Alberta Environment
Bill Flaig, Graham Group
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f you ever get an opportunity to listen to Jeff Rubin speak, do so. Whether or not you agree with Rubin’s predictions—and those of you who are familiar with this colourful former chief economist at CIBC World Markets know how…shall we
say, out there some of these have been—at the very least he’s entertaining.Journalists love to cover Rubin because he gives great quotes. Let me give you an
example from his speech to the Energy Services Summit in Edmonton in late July.“Find a strong enough wind and even pigs will fly.”Rubin said this to back up his belief that the various national governments have
thrown so much money at the recession to stimulate the economy that a recovery is inevitable. Mind you, he doesn’t agree where all the money has gone (i.e., the auto sector). Nor does he like the gazillions of dollars in deficits that were created world-wide. But I think you see his point.
Rubin convincingly laid out an argument that once the recovery picks up steam, oil prices will begin to climb and that we’ll see triple-digit oil prices within a year. That’s especially important for Alberta, he contends, because once the price of oil remains above $70 a barrel, it will make sense for the producers to reactivate the multi-billion-dollar oilsands projects that were shelved in the wake of the economic melt-down. He’s convinced that Canada will play a key role in future world oil production.
The big question is, of course, is Rubin correct in his price prediction? After all, if you keep track of such things (as I do you) you probably know that University of Calgary professor and energy economist Philip Verleger predicts oil will plunge to $20 a barrel. That would arguably throw cold water on any hope of a recovery in Alberta’s economy.
But let’s just say Rubin is correct. You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out what that could mean for the construction business.
The recession has been difficult on all of us. I’ve weathered three of them thus far, and while I know it will end, that doesn’t make it any easier for those I know who have seen their salaries frozen or cut—or worse, have lost their jobs.
Fortunately, there are still great people in or directly associated with this indus-try—folks who have a flair for leading or being innovative or turning dreams into realities, tough times be damned. You’ll meet 10 of them in this issue, beginning on page 39, in our annual feature on industry Movers & Shakers.
And recession or not, there are still some pretty remarkable construction pro-jects underway in this province. If you haven’t already done so, you need to get us nominations for significant projects in the commercial, industrial, infrastructure, and institutional sectors for our annual Top Projects issue by Sept. 25. To learn more, check out the ad on page 82 or visit our website, albertaconstructionmagazine.com. Or drop me an email at [email protected] and I’ll be happy to forward you a nomination form.
We’ll publish the winners and the runners-up in November-December.
Chaz Osburn editor’s note [email protected]
I
Coming next issue: 2009 Top Projects
Alberta Construction Magazine | 3
featuresCOMMERCIAL
18 Air of efficiency WestJet’s new $100-million headquarters strikes
an important balance by Jacqueline Louie
INFRASTRUCTURE
28 So long, smoke Cleaner, more efficient paving could be around the corner
with warm mix asphalt by Godfrey Budd
INDUSTRIAL
34 Better safe As regulators crack down on safety, industry needs to know how
to protect itself from large numbers of costly charges by Tricia Radison
bUSINESS OF bUILDING
65 Exit strategy Business succession planning can provide a road map for a prosperous retirement
by Godfrey Budd
TRADE TALk
70 Tightening up Construction site security takes on greater importance as
recession lags by Tricia Radison
73 5 smart tips for improving your building’s security
by Tricia Radison
75 Dry up New ideas on managing moisture put forth at building
envelope conference by Tricia Radison
President & CeOBill Whitelaw • [email protected]
PublisherAgnes Zalewski • [email protected]
assOCiate Publisher & editOrChaz Osburn • [email protected]
editOrial direCtOrStephen Marsters • [email protected]
editOrial Editorial Assistance Marisa Kurlovich, Kelley Stark
Contributors Godfrey Budd, Jacqueline Louie,
Tricia Radison, Kelley Stark
Creative Print, Prepress & Production Manager Michael Gaffney • [email protected]
Publications Manager Audrey Sprinkle • [email protected]
Publications Supervisor Rianne Stewart • [email protected]
Graphic Designer Cathlene Ozubko • cozubko @junewarren-nickles.com
Creative Services Rachel Dash-Williams, Alanna Staver• [email protected]
Contributing Photographers Roy Ooms, Aaron Parker, Joey Podlubny
sales Director of Sales Rob Pentney • [email protected]
Sales Manager – Magazines Maurya Sokolon • [email protected]
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Account Managers Michael Goodwin • [email protected]
Bonnie Pigeon • [email protected]
Sales Administrator Craig Cosens • [email protected]
Ad Traffic Coordinator – Magazines Elizabeth McLean • [email protected]
marketing and CirCulatiOn Senior Marketing Coordinator Alaina Dodge-Foulger • [email protected]
Marketing/Trade Show Coordinator Ryan Mischiek • [email protected]
Marketing Designer Cristian Ureta • [email protected]
OFFiCesCalgary – North:
#300, 5735 - 7 Street NE, Calgary, Alberta T2E 8V3Tel: 403.265.3700 Fax: 403.265.3706 Toll Free: 1.888.563.2946
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Subscription inquiries:Tel: 1.866.543.7888
Email: [email protected] Construction Magazine is owned by
JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group and is published bimonthly.
©2009 1062807 Glacier Media Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by
any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher. The opinions expressed by contributors to Alberta Construction Magazine may not represent the official views of the magazine. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, the publisher does not assume any responsibility or liability for errors or omissions. Printed by PrintWest
Postage Paid in Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaIf undeliverable return to: Circulation Department,
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COVER BACKGROUND PhOTO By JOhN ASPDEN
4 | September/October 2009
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Volume 29, Number 5Published September/October 2009contents
9 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Nuts & Bolts
17 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Around Canada
61 � � � � People, Products & Projects
64 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Construction CV
77 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ACA Report
79 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � CCA Report
81 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Safety Beat
83 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � The Legal Edge
84 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Time Capsule
18
39 Making a difference in turbulent timesMeet our 2009 Movers & Shakers
COVER STORy
28
DEPARTMENTS
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Alberta Construction Magazine | 5
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Lafarge Canada Inc. | 10511–15th Street SE, Calgary AB, T2J 7H7 | Phone: 403-292-1555 | Fax: 403-278-7121www.lafargenorthamerica.com
aarON ParKer, who took photos for this issue, is a graduate of Grant MacEwan College and also completed the NAIT Graphic Communications program. he is a full-time JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group employee and is based in Edmonton.
JaCQueLINe LOuIe writes about WestJet’s new corporate headquarters, which begins on page 18. based in Calgary, she is a frequent contributor to other JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group publications, including Oil & Gas Inquirer and Air Water Land.
KeLLeY starK works in JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group’s Edmonton Editorial Assistance department. She is a graduate of Grant MacEwan’s Bachelor of Applied Communications in Professional Writing program.
Calgary-based freelancer GODfreY BuDD is a veteran writer, contributing many articles for industry magazines and business periodicals on western Canada’s energy industry and Alberta’s construction sector. he reports on a new asphalt technology worth paying attention to, which begins on page 28.
trICIa raDIsON, who contributes several pieces to this issue, is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Alberta Construction Magazine and other magazines published by JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group. Radison is an avid reader and expert researcher. She lives in Calgary.
6 | September/October 2009
contributors
AggregAte • AsphAlt • ConCrete BloCk • ConCrete pipe • ConstruCtion preCAst ConCrete • reAdy Mix ConCrete
Lafarge Canada Inc. | 10511–15th Street SE, Calgary AB, T2J 7H7 | Phone: 403-292-1555 | Fax: 403-278-7121www.lafargenorthamerica.com
NEwS BRIEfS fOR ThE BUSy CONSTRUCTION PROfESSIONALnuts & bolts
TABLE Of CONteNts
YOU MAY BE BUSY BEFORE YOU KNOW ITBy ChAZ OSBURN
If former CIBC world Markets chief econo-mist Jeff Rubin is right, those of you who work on oilsands projects are about to get a whole lot busier.
In an address to the Energy Services Summit in Edmonton in late July, Rubin said that once the recession is over, “we have a rendezvous with triple-digit oil prices.” The result will be that oilsands projects that were shelved during the slow-down because prices did not justify the high cost of investment will be reactivated.
when will this happen? According to Rubin—who in 2008 made a splash with predictions of $200 a barrel oil—it will occur within 12 months.
“I think the minute we see the economy on its feet, we’ll see triple-digit oil prices,” he said. But Rubin also said that while a recovery will be a plus for the province, there’s also a downside.
“The better things get in Alberta, the worse things get in the rest of the world,” he said. “If we get triple-digit prices, we will have the incentive to bring production up to four million barrels a day from the
oilsands. But that future is the same future that will see people come off the road with $2 a litre gas, and that will have implica-tions for things like big-box stores, the daily commute, and even what you eat.”
Rubin details his argument in a new book, Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization. Saying that the days of cheap oil are at an end, Rubin predicts a profound change in the global economy that will affect all of our lives—from where we work to where we live to what we eat.
Rubin said the world’s oil reservoirs are being depleted at about four million bar-rels per day each year. That’s why Alberta’s oilsands, with its vast deposits, will be so critical in the future.
“This place is going to be the single most important source of supply,” he said of the province.
Not everyone shares Rubin’s view that oil prices will skyrocket. Some analysts maintain that oil could drop to $20 a barrel.
Rubin said a recovery is on the horizon. while he doesn’t agree with many of the
strategies governments used to stimulate the economy—from running gigantic defi-cits to bailing out the auto industry—he said the recovery is inevitable
Said Rubin, “we can print money, but we can’t print oil.”
Tough times now, but better times ahead . . . . . . . . . . . .10Demand is there for engineering technicians . . . . . . .11Talk about energy efficiency . . .11Skyscraper goes green . . . . . . . .12wetlands area honours John E. Poole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13London stadium structure finished ahead of schedule . . . .14Shake, rattle, and...hold . . . . . . . .15Peace Bridge is for pedestrians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16for the record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Alberta Construction Magazine | 9
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TOUGH TIMES NOW, bUT bETTER TIMES AhEADBy KELLEy STARK
workers in eight trades and occupations will be hit hardest between now and 2012 because of the slowdown in Alberta’s construction industry—particularly in home building.
That’s the assessment of the Construction Sector Council’s workforce outlook report, released this summer.
forget the recruiting challenges of the past years. They are being replaced by reduced hours of work, layoffs, and rescheduling.
Trades taking the biggest hit:❚ Carpenters❚ Construction managers❚ Crane operators❚ Electricians❚ Ironworkers❚ Pipefitters❚ Sheet metal workers❚ weldersBut not all the news is grim. The report,
which looks out until 2017, predicts that demand will pick up in many trades after three years. Crane operators, pipefitters, truck drivers, and welders should be in high demand towards the end of the out-look period.
The reason is that once the recession recedes next year, the residential construc-tion industry will need to hire back its lost workforce by 2012. The report also fore-casts that big energy-related projects will come back on stream in 2013.
Unfortunately for Alberta, the work-force will lose a lot of skilled and experi-enced tradesperson, supervisors, and
managers to other provinces that continue to work on public infrastructure and other projects throughout the recession. By 2016, Alberta will need more workers than it did in 2008. By then, the industry will return to competitive recruiting, the report says.
On top of losing a lot of the labour force to other provinces, 22,000 construction workers are expected to retire over the 2009–2017 period. Also, 8,000 new workers will be needed to meet the expected rise in the economy starting in 2014.
The predictions are based on analy-sis from government and industry using models of the economy and the demand for trades.
Says executive director of the Construction Sector Council, George Gritziotis, “Essentially, we forecast trends…. we do not predict the future like a fortune teller.”
The report, Construction Looking Forward, An Assessment of Construction Labour Markets from 2009 to 2017 for Alberta, is part of the Construction Sector Council’s Labour Market Information Program. The report will be available electronically later this year at www.csc-ca.org.
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nuts & bolts
10 | September/October 2009
PerformanceYou know what’s important – quality product, exceptional value and customer satisfaction.
We agree. That’s why we’re helping you build solid foundations, today and tomorrow.
EVERYTHING CONCRETE . ca
CalGaRY EdmONTON REd dEER FORT mCmuRRaY
PERFORmaNCEROCkSOlId
DEMAND IS THERE FOR ENGINEERING TEChNICIANS
TALk AbOUT ENERGY EFFICIENCY
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The future for engineering technicians and technologists remains bright.
About 93 per cent of gradu-ates in programs accredited by the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta last year were employed within a year of gradua-tion, according to NAIT.
It gets better. Salaries are on the rise for the third year in row, hav-ing increased a minimum of five per cent since 2008. The Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta’s 2009 sal-ary survey revealed a salary range between $56,455 for technicians or technologists in training associates and $179,973 for self-employed certi-fied engineering technologists.
The International Renewable Energy Agency plans to construct a building that it claims will be the first in history to produce more energy than it consumes. The agency’s new headquarters will be located in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City. The International Renewable Energy Agency
is relatively new, having formed this past January. Its goal is to become the main driving force for promoting a rapid transi-tion towards the widespread and sustain-able use of renewable energy on a global scale. The agency did not say when con-struction would begin.
An artist’s depiction of the International Renewable Energy Agency’s new home.
nuts & bolts
Alberta Construction Magazine | 11
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Chicago’s iconic Sears Tower—er, make that the willis Tower (it was renamed this sum-mer)— is undergoing a $350-million facelift to make North America’s largest skyscraper more energy efficient. It is one of the most significant sustainable modernization pro-jects of an existing building ever undertaken.
here are some of the improvements:❚ Efficiency improvements to the building’s
exterior envelope and windows. This involves a gigantic window replacement and glazing program. how huge? The tower has 16,000 single-pane windows.
❚ New gas boilers that utilize fuel cell technologies, which generate electricity, heating, and cooling at as much as 90 per cent efficiency.
❚ Upgrades to the tower’s 104 high-speed elevators and 15 escalators. This will achieve a 40 per cent reduction in their electricity use.
SKYSCRAPER GOES GREEN❚ Upgrades to washroom fixtures,
condensation recovery systems, and water-efficient landscaping. This is designed to reduce water usage by 40 per cent. That could save 24 million gallons of water each year.Other changes are also in the works, includ-
ing plans to use wind turbines to take advan-tage of the tower’s height and solar hot-water panels to heat water for the building.
According to those planning the project, the energy savings will equal 68 million kilowatt hours annually. That works out to 150,000 bar-rels of oil every year.
“Buildings are the world’s largest con-tributor to carbon emissions, and therefore the biggest opportunity to address climate change is to retrofit existing structures,” said Adrian Smith. Smith is a partner with Chicago architectural firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.
The building opened in 1973.
The iconic Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower.
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12 | September/October 2009
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WETLANDS AREA HONOURS JOHN E. POOLEConstruction will begin this fall on an inter-pretive site in St. Albert that will not only educate Albertans on the importance of wetlands, but also serve as a tribute to a man who helped PCL become a construc-tion giant.
The John E. Poole wetland Interpretive Site will be established along the east shore of Big Lake, an internationally renowned area that provides critical habi-tat for thousands of nesting and migrat-ing waterfowl and shorebirds. Big Lake
is part of the Lois hole Provincial Park in St. Albert. It is expected that the site will become a field trip destination for Edmonton-area schoolchildren to learn about conservation and the critical role wetlands play.
Development of the John E. Poole wetland Interpretive Site is possible because of a conservation fund—also named for Poole—that was launched in late June by Ducks Unlimited Canada. Barbara Poole, Poole’s widow, and her family presented the first seed money for the fund. PCL’s president and CEO, Ross Grieve, pitched in $200,000 on behalf of the PCL family of companies.
Poole died in 2007. he was the son of the founder of what became PCL and was one of Edmonton’s most notable philan-thropists. he was also a man who loved and respected the outdoors, his family said.
“wetlands are important to the Poole family and all Albertans, but our precious wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate,” Ducks Unlimited Canada president Jack hole said. “we need to build this leg-acy so that we can continue our work to ensure that wetlands remain.”
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This artist’s rendering shows an education station at the John E. Poole Wetland Interpretive Site.
nuts & bolts
Alberta Construction Magazine | 13
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LONDON STADIUM STRUCTURE FINISHED AHEAD OF SCHEDULEThough the Vancouver Olympics, which is only five months away, may be front and centre, you may be curious about how construction is shaping up in London, host of the 2012 Games.
Construction crews reached a significant milestone in late July by completing the external steel structure for Olympic Stadium. If you’ve been to London lately you’ve no doubt seen the dramatic change to the skyline in the eastern part of the city.
Olympic Stadium is the flagship venue of the 2012 Games.
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Believe it or not, the first portion of the 85-tonne steel sections of the roof was lifted into place a little over seven months ago. Now all 28 sections are in place—more than a month earlier than origin-ally planned.
The external structure includes roof sections to support the fabric roof and black steel rakers, which support the terracing for the upper tier’s 55,000 seats. The achievement means that the outer shell of the stadium will have been finished just 14 months after work started.
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14 | September/October 2009
In case this has been keeping you awake at night, it is possible to construct a decent-size wood-frame building to withstand a major earthquake.
Colorado State University researchers and engineers from Simpson Strong-Tie proved just that this summer. what they did was hold a 40-second test simulating a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on a “condominium” that was specially built for the test. A seven-storey structure, the building had 23 one- and two-bedroom living units.
So how does one simulate an earth-quake? with something called an earth-quake shake table. Japan’s National Research Institute owns the world’s largest earthquake shake table for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention. The tower was the largest wood-frame building ever built and tested, according to the researchers.
“The testing thus far has shown that performance-based design for light-frame wood structures works,” says Steve Pryor, a structural engineer for Simpson Strong-Tie
SHAKE, RATTLE, AND…HOLD
who worked on the project. “This will allow the engineering and building community to provide safer, better performing buildings in the most cost-effective manner.”
Admittedly, earthquakes are not a major problem in Canada. we’re lucky. But they are on the U.S. west Coast and elsewhere. In fact, the U.S. building industry rarely permits wood-frame buildings in excess of five storeys in quake-prone areas. Data from the test could increase the height of these buildings and influence the design of future wood-frame
construction. And the government of British Columbia is particularly interested in the results of the test after enacting a law April 1 that increases the height of wood-frame struc-tures from four to six storeys.
Researchers spent the summer simulat-ing earthquakes ranging from relatively fre-quent events expected every 70 years or so. They also simulated more powerful earth-quakes that are only expected every 500 to 2,500 years. Those magnitudes ranged from 6.7 to 7.5 on the Richter scale.
A test building undergoes an earthquake simulation.
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Alberta Construction Magazine | 15
Safety is a number one priority at EllisDon. Through proper planning, dangers can be identi�ed and prevented. We work hard to ensure the safest conditions possible on our projects and are proud of the fact that our safety record consistently exceeds the industry average. Because at EllisDon we believe that, quite simply, if you’re not building a project safely, you’re not building it right.
w w w . e l l i s d o n . c o m
Building safe means building smart.
FOR THE RECORDIn its coverage of the Alberta Steel Design Awards of Excellence (May-June issue), Alberta Construction Magazine incorrectly reported the architectural firm responsible for the Calgary Courts Centre. for the record, Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd. was the architect. The project was recognized as the winner in the Engineering Award category. we regret the error.
The City of Calgary will seek bids this fall for a pedestrian bridge across the Bow River, just west of Prince’s Island Park. Construction is expected to cost around $18 million.
Called the Peace Bridge, the struc-ture will connect the Eau Claire area and hillhurst-Sunnyside. It will create a con-venient link for users of Calgary’s pathway system and people who travel between the Sunnyside LRT Station and central down-town destinations such as Eau Claire.
If all goes according to plan, construc-tion will begin before year’s end. The bridge could open in 2010.
PEACE BRIDGE IS FOR PEDESTRIANSAward-winning architect Santiago
Calatrava created the design. his previ-ous work includes the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay in Redding, Calif.; Lyon Airport Station in france; and the world Trade Center Transportation hub in New york City.
This 130-metre long, single-span bridge will have:❚ A 6.2-metre wide pathway, which is
twice as wide as other pedestrian bridges in the area.
❚ A clear separation between pedestrian and bicycle/wheel traffic for safety.
❚ A canopy-style glazed roof that supports year-round use while maintaining natural light.
❚ Lighting.Stantec Consulting’s Calgary office is
providing technical support. Calgary’s transportation department is provid-ing management expertise for the project.
The bridge will have a minimum 75-year lifespan. It will be built to withstand a 1-in-100-year flood cycle.
Calgary’s Peace Bridge over the Bow River.
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16 | September/October 2009
AROUND CANADA$1MILLION
NUMBERS 2 KNOW
of construction waste that was recycled when Union Gas built its recently opened $16-million regional centre in windsor, Ont.
canada’s first liquefied natural gas terminal is up and running. The Canaport LNG terminal in Saint John, N.B., is owned by Irving Oil Limited and Repsol YPF, S.A. It was built to provide one billion
ONtarIO CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRy WeatHers reCessIONProposed government infrastructure spending should help Ontario’s construction industry weather the recession better than many other sectors, according to the Construction Sector Council.
The council’s relatively cheery outlook is contained in a detailed report on labour market trends in the industry in Ontario through 2017 called Construction Looking Forward.
While the recession has weakened housing and industrial activity, other construction sectors are expected to take up some of the employment slack this year and next due increased government spending on highways, bridges, and other projects, the report says.
“Despite the downturn, employment numbers should remain steady as several proposed major infrastructure projects across Ontario come online,” council executive director George Gritziotis said in a news release.
cubic feet of natural gas to the Canadian and northeastern U.S. market. Construction began in 2006 and the terminal handled its first delivery in late June 2009.
ESTIMATED COST OF A STUDy TO DETERMINE ThE FEASIBILITy OF CONSTRUCTING A DOMED STADIUM IN REGINA, SASK., ThAT WOULD BECOME ThE NEW hOME OF ThE SASKATChEWAN ROUGhRIDERS
$1,275,000amOuNt Of fuNDING ThE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT hAS EARMARKED TO IMPROVE ThE INUVIK MIDNIGhT SUN RECREATION COMPLEx’S BUILDING ENVELOPE IN ThE NORThwEST TERRITORIES
Amount invested in non-residential building construction throughout Canada in the second quarter of 2009
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Alberta Construction Magazine | 17
Air of efficiency
westJet’s gleaming new headquarters in Calgary’s McCall North Trade Park was built on time and within budget.
18 | September/October 2009
commercial
WestJet’s new corporate head-quarters is all about finding a balance
between beauty and functionality, between sustainable design and energy efficiency, while
minimizing costs at the same time.The six-storey, 325,000 sq ft. corporate campus—situated
in the McCall North Trade Park on the northeast side of Calgary—boasts a wide range of sustainability design features and extensive natural
light throughout, for reduced electricity use and a better workplace environment. The building consolidates seven WestJet offices in Calgary. It officially opened in May.
WestJet’s new $100-million headquarters strikes an important balance
by Jacqueline LouiePhotos by Roy Ooms
Alberta Construction Magazine | 19
“When we began planning our new campus building several years ago, we knew that one of the benefits would be having all of our WestJetter office employees under one roof,” explains Fred Ring, WestJet’s executive VP of corporate projects. “I don’t think we fully appreciated the impact it would have not only on our culture, which has always been at the heart of our com-pany, but on our WestJetters themselves.”
Cana Construction was the contractor. The architect was Stantec Architecture Ltd. Stantec Consulting Ltd. was the pro-ject engineer.
The project partners worked to an extremely tight schedule to complete the $100-million building, which WestJet says was built on time and within budget. Construction began in June 2007.
Less energyThe building was built to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification. It incor-porates a range of sustainable design features that reduce annual energy con-sumption by 48 per cent, and annual
To make the geothermal heating and cooling system as efficient as possible, the Stantec design team integrated the geo-exchange system within the building’s structural piles. The photo at right shows the abundance of natural light that shines within the building.
commercial
20 | September/October 2009
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water consumption by 41 per cent. Projected to save $267,000 per year in energy costs, the projects has features that include:❚ Geothermal piles for heating and
cooling.❚ A highly efficient building envelope
that helps minimize the effects of weather on the building interior while improving energy performance.
❚ Light sensor-operated blinds.❚ A cistern that collects rainwater from
the rooftop for landscape irrigation.❚ Recycled and regionally sourced
materials whenever possible.The design team also sought to mini-
mize or eliminate volatile organic com-pounds in materials such as carpets, paints, millwork, and other finishes.
As sustainability consultants, Stantec’s integrated design team works to maximize energy savings while minimizing capital costs, says Stantec Consulting principal and sustainability lead, James Furlong. It’s an approach that works well. With the WestJet building, Stantec projects that the green features will pay for sustainable capital costs within nine-and-a-half years,
Geothermal piles that absorb or disperse heat will enable WestJet to cut energy consumption dramatically.
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and has kept the additional capital costs typically associated with designing and building a green project to an increase of just 1.5 per cent versus an industry aver-age of 5 to 7.5 per cent.
With its high-efficiency roof and wall systems, the building uses passive heat-ing and cooling design features as much as possible, before relying on mechanical infrastructure to achieve greater energy efficiency. Next in priority for the design team was to make the geothermal heat-ing and cooling system as efficient as pos-sible. The team had initially planned for a conventional geothermal exchange sys-tem, which in this situation would have required drilling 200 four-inch diam-eter boreholes at a depth of 300 to 350 feet, to compensate for the site’s poor soil conditions.
But af ter conducting extensive research on geo-exchange systems throughout North America and Europe, instead, the team integrated the geo-exchange system within the building’s structural piles, saving both time and money. Stantec’s final design reduced the number of boreholes from 200 to
Exterior and interior views of WestJet’s corporate campus. The new headquarters building connects to a hanger complex.
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Alberta Construction Magazine | 23
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20, placed outside the building plate, along with geothermal piping incorpor-ated within 73 of the building’s 105 struc-tural piles.
This is the first building in Canada to use this type of geo-exchange approach to this scale, according to project designers.
$800,000 in savings“We worked very closely with engineers to come up with this solution and saved the client well over $800,000,” says Stantec
architectural design lead and senior prin-cipal Enzo Vicenzino. He notes that if the geothermal piles had been located outside the building footprint—that would have been the case in a traditional system—the cost would have been extremely high.
Another sustainability feature saw the designers incorporate 40 per cent fly ash content—a by-product of burning coal, which is plentiful in Alberta—into the concrete piles. This reduces the build-ing’s carbon footprint by using recycled
material sourced locally, says Stantec Consulting structural lead and senior principal, Pang Ng.
To round out the building’s green fea-tures, Stantec installed what’s known as a Measurement and Verification System, a protocol adopted by the Canada and U.S. Green Building Councils. The system measures how a building’s energy effi-ciency features perform on an ongoing basis. The system can make adjustments to how a building functions over time, to
facts about westJet’s new corporate headquarters:
■ COST: $100 million
■ CONTRACTOR: Cana Construction
■ SIZE: Six storeys, 325,000 sq ft.
■ Of NOTE: Built to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold certification
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ensure that it operates as efficiently and cost effectively as possible.
The building is one of the first in Calgary with this kind of system, allowing WestJet to monitor and control energy con-sumption on an ongoing basis and operate the facility as optimally as possible—increasing energy savings and potentially reducing equipment load and wear.
“The measurement and verification system is a critical component of this building because the mechanical sys-tem is more complex, largely due to the geo-exchange system,” says Jim Bererton, Stantec Consulting’s sustainability prac-tice lead.
“What we are enabling WestJet to do in subsequent years is very closely mon-itor their energy consumption and change occupant behaviour if required,” adds
A large atrium within WestJet’s headquarters building was designed to act as a hub for the WestJet campus.
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Furlong, noting that with most market standard construction, there is no way to ensure ongoing energy efficiency.
“As design professionals, it allows us to see that the predictions we made about energy efficiency actually translate into reality.”
But as important as energy efficiency is, having a new building is equally import-ant to employee morale. So how have WestJetters responded?
“They absolutely love the new building, from their bright, spacious workstations to the in-house Sunterra Market, the refresh stations on every f loor, and the large employee fitness centre,” says Ring, the airline’s executive VP of corporate projects.
“You can see it in their faces. They truly enjoy coming to work and interacting with each other in such a beautiful setting every day.”
WestJet visitors can’t miss the sweeping front entrance.
commercial
26 | September/October 2009
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Businesses today understand that driving is one of the most dangerous activities that employees do every day, and they are looking for fleet safety training from an experienced company they can trust. Organizations look to fleet safety providers to educate drivers to reduce the social, economic and emotional costs resulting from fatalities and injuries caused by vehicle collisions.
AMA Fleet Safety Services has been providing professional safety training for over 35 years, and specializes in companies whose drivers hold class 2,3,4 and 5 licences. Most of these company fleets consist of cars, vans, SUVs and light trucks. As part of the largest and most experienced driving school in North America, AMA Fleet Safety’s government-certified instructors deliver effective courses, customized to meet the needs of business – designed to reduce collisions and improve a company’s bottom line.
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Each year, AMA Fleet Safety trains over 6,500 light vehicle operators, and in every case the process starts with listening to the client and understanding their fleet safety needs. “One of the biggest needs for customers is to provide drivers with the skills necessary to safely operate company equipment,” said Ron Wilson, Manager, AMA Fleet Safety Services.
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Organizations trust that AMA will do what is best for their clients. Over 90% of AMA Fleet Safety participants are “satisfied” with the programs. Participants receive personal driving behaviour assessments along with a review of current driving rules and regulations to help clear up any myths about those laws. They’ll also learn key strategies to deal with driver impairments and collision management.
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AMA Fleet Safety Services will do what it takes to get a company’s drivers on track – literally. Many courses include the very popular on-track training components.
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So long, smoke
Cleaner, more efficient paving could be around the corner with warm mix asphaltby Godfrey Budd
he searing heat, smoke, and acrid fumes of conventional hot mix asphalt paving could soon be
a thing of the past in Alberta and other parts of Canada if new asphalt production technologies take the market by storm as some believe they should.
The group of technologies that has been developed since early research and pilot projects in Germany and Norway in the late 1990s is called warm mix asphalt. Research into warm mix asphalt origin-ally stemmed from a commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions via reduced and more efficient energy consumption and
T
infrastructure
28 | September/October 2009
So long, smoke
Cleaner, more efficient paving could be around the corner with warm mix asphaltby Godfrey Budd
a decision of the German government around 1995 to review asphalt fumes exposure limits.
Warm mix asphalt technologies allow a reduction in the temperatures at which asphalt mixes are produced and placed, with asphalt produced at temperatures in a range of 20°C to 40°C below than for standard hot mix. The lower temperatures involved mean reduced energy consump-tion, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and almost no smoke or fumes.
Although warm mix asphalt has some distance to go before becoming standard in North America’s road construction and paving sector, some industry repre-sentatives appear very bullish about its prospects. Earlier this year, Mike Acott, president of the 1,100-member National Asphalt Pavement Association, told a U.S.
congressional science and technology com-mittee that the industry was on the verge of several major breakthroughs in sustain-able asphalt paving technology. “Within five years,” he predicts, “I believe you will see full deployment of warm mix, much higher rates of recycling, and develop-ment of perpetual pavement and porous asphalt technologies leading to a substan-tial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental and economic benefits within the asphalt paving sector.”
Alberta connectionIn Alberta, Standard General Inc. and Works Alberta Ltd., both part of the Paris-based Colas Group, a global player in the road construction sector, are exploring the use of warm mix asphalt. But major clients in the province, such as the City of Edmonton, have yet to decide which warm mix asphalt technology makes the most sense from an economic, technical,
and environmental standpoint. Until that happens, the technology seems likely to remain consigned to relatively small pro-jects. Still, with the help of promotional videos, technical papers, and small pro-jects, warm mix asphalt technology might soon enlarge its profile in Alberta.
The data so far looks promising, with substantial energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions on the horizon. A paper on warm mix asphalt technologies by two engineers, Jean-Martin Croteau of Works Alberta, and Bernard Tessier of Sintra Inc., was presented to the Warm Asphalt as a Sustainable Strategy for Pavements session at the Transportation Association of Canada’s annual confer-ence in 2008.
“Energy savings reported on [warm mix asphalt] trials ranged from 20 to 35 per cent at the plant depending on the [warm mix asphalt] system, moisture con-tent of the aggregate, and the type/effi-ciency of the plant,” the authors wrote. “The energy savings may be equivalent to approximately 1.5 to 2 litres of fuel per
infrastructure
Alberta Construction Magazine | 29
tonne of material. The total energy savings are even greater with recycling. The reduc-tion in greenhouse gas emission is closely associated with the reduction in energy consumption, i.e. 20 to 35 per cent reduc-tion in CO2 equivalent, which translate into approximately 4.1 to 5.5 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per tonne of mix.”
According to the authors, with Canadian consumption of hot mix asphalt in the region of 35 million to 40 million tonnes per year, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would be almost two million tonnes of CO2 (or equivalent), with energy savings in the range of 65,000 million litres, or about 2,000 tanker trailer loads.
There are three main types of tech-nologies for producing warm asphalt: water-based foaming and emulsions, chemical or petroleum-based additives, and special binder mixing systems that use surfactants.
Research on warm mix asphalt technologies report a noticeable energy savings at the plant where it was produced. Another benefit is the reduction in greenhouse gases.
infrastructure
30 | September/October 2009
In the mixThe objective of these systems is to achieve full aggregate coating at a lower mixing temperature. Roman Stefaniw, a prin-cipal at engineering firm J.R. Paine & Associates, says that warm mix asphalt allow asphalt production at around 121°C instead of in the 160°C range. Also, paving and compaction is done at lower temper-ature range as well. That’s typically 115°C to 120°C, instead of 135°C to 145°C for conventional hot mixes.
JR Paine has been providing mix design services for engineering firm for the last three years. Stefaniw says warm mix asphalt technologies not only save energy and reduce plant wear because of lower processing temperatures, but also should enable the pavement to last longer.
“If you heat it to a high temperature,” he says, “the bitumen becomes more viscous once it cools to the ambient
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temperature. During heating to a lower temperature, you are aging the bitumen less. If it is less aged, the road might last longer in theory. When the road is laid, it is ready for use earlier. So far, no studies show a downside to warm mix.”
When asphalt is heated to about 140°C or above, the bitumen’s lighter-end hydro-carbons, which lower viscosity, start to vapourize, says Bob Forfylow, director of quality for asphalt, paving and construc-tion at LaFarge Canada Inc.
The company’s so-called DuraClime system uses foam technology. It involves injection of 2 per cent water by weight at high pressure to cause foaming, which increases the volume of the mix by a factor of 18. The DuraClime manufacturing pro-cess is performed at around 130°C. Water is added before contact with the aggregate occurs. “The foam produces microscopic steam bubbles that promote coating [and] adhesion, by providing more uniform dis-persal of asphalt around the aggregate,” he says.
The manufacturing process for DuraClime applies controls to ensure that steam vapours don’t collect around aggre-gate. Forfylow says, “If that happens, the asphalt won’t adhere. In a process called stripping, the whole matrix could then start to unravel.”
With any warm mix technology, he says, the paving process can benefit from having more time to achieve the optimal density as there is a “longer cooling curve.” He adds, “We like foam, as the result is a tighter, more uniform matrix.”
The lower temperatures involved in warm mix technologies mean reduced energy consumption, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and almost no smoke or fumes�
infrastructure
32 | September/October 2009
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With its unsurpassed record for producing high quality, reliable construction products, Durabond has long been considered the gold standard. The superiority of its Durex® Architectural Coatings product line, only reaffirms Durabond’s superior commitment to manufacturing high-quality products that guarantee performance and durability.
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industrial
34 | September/October 2009
As regulators crack down on safety, industry needs to know how to protect itself from large numbers of costly chargesby Tricia Radison
Better safe
industrial
Alberta Construction Magazine | 35
wo years after the deaths of two workers constructing a tank farm in the oilsands, the Alberta government has charged the three companies involved in the incident with
53 offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. If con-victed, the companies could end up facing maximum penalties of $500,000 for each charge—a situation that may have the province’s contractors nervous and wondering how to protect themselves.
That may be exactly the outcome the government wants.“I think what you’re seeing is, certainly in Alberta and across
Canada generally, a more aggressive approach to enforcing health and safety laws by regulators,” says Norm Keith, a lawyer and partner at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP in Toronto and leader of the firm’s national Occupational Health and Safety Group.
The theory is that other contractors will make a more con-certed effort to improve safety because of this really overwhelm-ing number of charges that could result in millions and millions of dollars in fines,” he explains.
But Keith says there is no proof that companies can be scared safe. Aggressive prosecution doesn’t seem to make any differ-ence in safety records.
Instead, governments should focus on education and training to prevent accidents and reduce injuries in the workplace and acknowledge that no workplace can ever be 100 per cent safe.
“The point of safety legislation is for all workplace stakehold-ers to work together to make sure that risks are identified and either eliminated or reduced and that the workplace is funda-mentally safe. But that will never prevent all accidents because of the human element,” Keith says.
TThE fIVE-STEP aPPrOaCHNorm Keith recommends taking the following five-step approach to work site safety so you can use the due diligence defence if you need to:
1 Establish a commitment to safety at the senior execu-tive level and illustrate that safety is a key value for the organization through a written mission statement or policy.
2 Conduct a thorough workplace hazard assessment. This should be done by an expert to ensure that all hazards are identified and assessed.
3 Create and document safe work procedures to elimin-ate or control every hazard.
4 Train supervisors in safe work procedures and ensure that supervisors have the required tools and time to communicate those procedures to workers.
5 Conduct an annual review of the safety program. The review should include analysis of injuries to discover causes, input on safety issues from workers, and legal advice so you know you are in compliance with require-ments. when the review is finished, required improve-ments must be made.
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36 | September/October 2009
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The human element is why companies charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act shouldn’t be presumed to be guilty until they’ve had a fair trial. Deaths on a job site aren’t always the employer’s fault.
Keith cites a recent case that one of his clients, Lonkar Well Testing Ltd., has given him permission to discuss. After the death of a worker, Lonkar was convicted at trial, but the decision was reversed on appeal.
“This was a completely unforeseeable act by a worker not following his supervisor’s instructions and putting himself in a very dangerous situation and it’s a tragedy,” he says. “It’s a tra-gedy when anybody gets hurt or killed on the job, but that does not mean there’s legal guilt.”
So how can contractors and owners alike avoid getting charged or beat the charges if the unthinkable happens? Ron Harry, execu-tive director of Building Trades of Alberta, points out that a big part of safety is having the experience to get the job done right.
“In this situation [in the oilsands], the boilermakers union, which has been building tanks for over a hundred years, had a very deep concern about the processes that were being used,” he says of the 2007 incident at the tank farm. “You just cannot build that kind of product without that vast amount of experience.”
Harry suggests that owners building such complicated struc-tures learn from the incident and look for a made-in-Canada construction solution using building trade unions to avoid poten-tial safety issues arising from lack of experience.
Another point Harry makes is that contractors, owners, and workers all benefit from an atmosphere in which workers feel
comfortable speaking up about safety concerns and suggesting ways to improve safety.
“The building trade unions continue to, from a safety perspec-tive, usually obtain much better safety records than those that are not unionized,” he says. “One of the key factors of that, other than the fact that we work closely with our industry partners to promote safety, is the worker on the site has a third party—the union—that they can go to when looking out for their interests for safety.”
If charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, contractors can use the due diligence defence, showing the court they did everything possible to prevent the incident.
Keith recommends a five-step approach to work site safety (see accompanying sidebar) that includes such factors as con-ducting a workplace hazard assessment. This should be done by an expert to ensure all hazards are identified and assessed.
Says Keith: “If you’re doing all of these things, courts are going to look at you and say, ‘Look, this is a company that cares and they’re doing their best. They may not be perfect but we don’t expect perfection. We just expect every reasonable precaution to be taken.’”
Governments should focus on education and training to prevent accidents and reduce injuries in the workplace�
industrial
Alberta Construction Magazine | 37
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10 people making a difference in turbulent times
Meet Alberta Construction Magazine’s 2009 Movers & Shakers
he construction industry is no stranger to challenges.
For much of the decade, the industry has had to deal with all kinds of problems—from find-ing and retaining skilled labour in a tight mar-
ket to completing multi-billion-dollar megaprojects under tight deadlines in some of the toughest weather conditions that exist. Without question, however, the biggest challenge of late has been the biggest economic meltdown since the Great Depression.
Some companies have had to make painfully tough choices since our last Movers & Shakers feature. With project cancel-lations have come reduced hours, layoffs, and the sale of assets.
It is, of course, the people who make the greatest difference to this industry. Some are great at leading. Some inspire with their vision for a better tomorrow. Some bring stability when it seems that things are about to fall apart.
In the pages ahead, we’ll introduce you to 10 movers and shakers who are making a difference in Alberta’s construction industry—people with the ambition, ideas, and the drive to create realities from dreams. The 10 were chosen based on a range of criteria, including professional achievements, experi-ence, leadership, and industry and community involvement.
Today’s industry may be different than it was yesterday. But the innovation, leadership skills, inspiration, and other qualities of the 10 people featured here are certain to continue for years to come.
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movers & shakers
Alberta Construction Magazine | 39
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he shock of losing company founder Allen Williams in a plane crash in October 2007 still weighed on employees at A.D. Williams Engineering
when the unthinkable happened.Exactly five months later, Williams’ son
and new president Reagan Williams was killed in another plane crash, along with four others. They included Williams CFO
NASEEM BASHIR › President › Williams Engineering
Canada Inc.
› Contributing leadership and stability to his company during tragic times with an eye towards the future
Phil Allard and Rhonda Quirke, director of business integration strategies.
“It was a fairly surreal,” recalls Naseem Bashir of what it was like that snowy Friday in March.
Bashir, who became president after-wards, says that “when you lose that many senior people who were shareholders, I think a lot of our people—and probably a lot of people out on the street—were thinking how can [the company] survive?”
Not only has Bashir brought the Edmonton-based consulting engineering services firm stability, under his leader-ship it also has a new name—Williams Engineering Canada Inc.—and employee-ownership structure. And it has quite dra-matic growth plans: To double in size over the next five years.
“People say to me, ‘That’s pretty ambi-tious—to grow by 20 per cent a year.’ But the last two years, we grew by 50 per cent, and part of that period we went through the worst recession we’ve seen in a long period of time. Our revenues at the end of our last fiscal year, which ended May 31, were still 25 per cent higher than they were the year before.”
Part of that growth strategy, he adds, is based on acquiring other companies.
Bashir, a 19-year veteran of Williams, is quick to credit his colleagues and other employees for its success: “We have a great executive team. It was pretty key for us to build that strength back up [after the accidents].”
Bashir admits that leading the com-pany in those days immediately after the second plane crash was the biggest chal-lenge he’s had to deal with.
“The most important thing to do at that time was to create stability,” he says. “Rolling up in a ball and rocking yourself to sleep is not an option. The families and the people who work here are really important.”
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ERmovers & shakers
40 | September/October 2009
www.spatialtechnologies.ca
Calgary: P: 403.252.0070F: 403.259.3992TF: 1.877.252.0070
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BLAINE MACIBORSKY› VP, southern Alberta, › PCL Construction Management Inc., Calgary
› Leading a growing operation in a challenging yet vibrant market
n the fall of 2006, Blaine Maciborsky was content as con-struction manager for PCL in Ottawa, an operation he’d help grow from start-up to one of
the company’s most successful districts.Then he got the call.Paul Douglas, now COO of Canadian
operations, wanted Maciborsky, who spent the first seven years of his career in PCL’s Edmonton buildings office, back in Alberta.
“He spoke about the heated market and unprecedented growth in Alberta and the challenges that were ahead of us,” Maciborsky recalls. “I felt the move would not only benefit the company but would re-challenge me in my career.”
And challenge him it did. Initially dis-trict manager, he was promoted in 2008 to VP of PCL Construction Management Inc., Calgary, in charge of PCL’s build-ings and civil operations in southern Alberta, a busy division that shows no signs of slowing.
Maciborsky’s experience helps him deal with the many challenges of lead-ing a growing operation in one of North America’s most vibrant construction mar-kets. He has ample experience. He’s worked on the $122-million Scotia Bank Place and $243-million Air Canada Centre in Ottawa and was honoured to lead his team on the $104-million Canadian War Museum.
Love for the business since childhood also plays a role in his success.
“I would marvel over seeing a high-rise building come out of the ground to rise to be a magnificent structure,” he says. “It always intrigued me as to how this was all orchestrated and how it seemed so effortless.”
As he rattles off a list of existing projects—such as the $350-million Centennial Place office building and the $190-million Chinook Centre Expansion, and throws in a list of government-funded projects he’ll be going after in the coming year, including the $700-million West LRT Expansion, $300-million SAIT Trades and Technology Centre, and projects at the University of Calgary and Mount Royal College—Maciborsky makes his job seem effortless too.
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Alberta Construction Magazine | 43
Architect: Shore Tilbe IrwinPhoto: Lisa Logan
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f you haven’t heard of DIRTT Environmental Solutions, it’s time you did. Founded by Calgary entrepreneur Mogens Smed just four years ago,
DIRTT is thriving—revenues are expected to hit $100 million this year—at a time other companies are barely hanging on.
DIRTT—an acronym for Doing It Right This Time—manufactures mov-able walls that replace drywall and studs. The walls, which don’t look movable, are sturdy and can be tilted down and moved to another location when change occurs in the office. DIRTT also sells software for modular workspace design.
“We’re a replacement for conventional construction,” explains Smed, who is also DIRTT’s CEO. “The conventional process is, first of all, extremely time-consuming. Second, it’s environmentally destructive.
MOGENS SMED › CEO and Founder › DIRTT Environmental
Solutions
Third, it’s very expensive compared to our mode of construction. Our whole program is all about sustainability.”
With over 500 employees and a new manufacturing plant in Savannah, Ga., DIRTT’s client base continues to expand throughout North America.
“We do all of Google in the United States,” Smed says when asked for an example.
It’s apparent Smed hit upon a good idea at the right time.
“Green construction, regardless of the economy, has been a growing market,” he points out. “We literally have no competi-tors in the interior green construction market at all.”
But don’t be fooled. Building a com-pany from scratch is never easy—particu-larly in a market like Calgary. Smed had to grapple with the labour shortage just like many of the rest of us.
“We’ve ma na ged to acc u mu-late a great team of people here, but it’s been very, very difficult,” Smed acknowledges.
Focusing on the business has been important as well.
Of the current economic environ-ment, Smed offered this observation: “Most businesses—whether they’re pre-pared to admit it or not—are run by the accountants. The accountants don’t have any way of responding to a challenging environment. All they know is how to save. They don’t know how to grow a business. There’re obviously opportun-ities in this kind of environment—there always have been and there always will be. But their role is to protect whatever assets a company has. That’s a losing battle in some cases because all you do is save yourself into bankruptcy.”
› Recognizing a void in interior green construction leads to an innovative solution
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Lmovers & shakers
44 | September/October 2009
Architect: Shore Tilbe IrwinPhoto: Lisa Logan
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ary Heinking has seen a lot of changes in the industry in the past three decades.
“I can still remember my first boss making sure the cli-
ents we were due to meet with knew that he was bringing a woman along since he didn’t want to shock them,” recalls Heinking, executive project director at Fluor, an engineering, procurement, con-struction, maintenance and project man-agement firm whose Canadian operations are based in Calgary.
“Nowadays, things are very different and better. There are a lot more women work-ing in the industry—as engineers, in project controls, materials management, etc. The engineering and construction industry is
m
MARY HEINKING › Executive Project Director › Fluor
› Motivating and managing while orchestrating complex projects
an extremely challenging one and it really needs the contributions that everyone, male and female alike, have to offer.”
Heinking caught our attention with her work at the Long Lake Upgrader, a joint venture between Nexen and Opti Canada. During a four-year period, she was Fluor’s project manager for the construction and construction management of the sulphur recovery unit, as well as project manager for the engineering and procurement of the hydrocracker and gasification silos.
“Being a project director allows me to leverage my technical skills while figuring out how to motivate and manage a highly diverse group of people,” says Heinking, who has degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University.
Heinking, who has been with Fluor for 19 years and calls Canada “hands-down the best place I ever worked,” says she’s proud of the safety record of the projects she’s worked on: “Making sure the team and the craft workers on site know that we will not compromise our commitment to safety is something I take personally.”
Lately Heinking, who has lived and worked in multiple countries, has been spending time between Calgary and Russia, where she is developing project management training manuals and con-ducting training for the Sibur Group, one of Russia’s leading petrochemical companies.
But projects with a construction com-ponent have a special attraction.
“I love seeing what has been designed, transformed into reality at the job site; it is such a ‘wow’ moment,” she says. “I always encourage the newer people working for me to take site assignments and tell them that they will learn three times as much in the same period of time at the job site as compared with the home office.”
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Rmovers & shakers
Alberta Construction Magazine | 47
MICHAEL FLYNN › Executive Director › Urban Development Institute
— Calgary
› Pushing for choice for Alberta’s largest city
he City of Calgary undoubt-edly had the best of inten-tions when using goals such as higher density communities and more multi-family hous-
ing to create Plan It Calgary, a development and transportation plan intended to guide growth and spending for the next 60 years. But for Michael Flynn, executive director of the Urban Development Institute—Calgary, admirable goals alone don’t make for a thriving building industry.
t
“I think it would have a huge impact in terms of the type of construction that is done, how many people are employed to do the construction, the types of buildings that are made, and how many subcontract-ors are used,” Flynn says.
The problem relates to what Calgarians want. Opposition to the plan is based on the experience of the more than 170 companies that Flynn’s organizations represents as well as survey information: Calgarians prefer choice.
Since the release of Plan It, Flynn has spent most of his time working with the city to come up with a plan that is, from the developers’ point of view, realistic. It’s a challenging job, but one that Flynn is prepared to tackle.
The one-time executive director of the Calgary Police Commission, who laughs when he says he isn’t sure how he ended up at Urban Development Institute—Calgary, has a long history working with city administration and, in his current position, maintains a close working rela-tionship with the city.
That relationship is certain to serve him well in the coming months as he works with the city to develop a workable implementation plan around Plan It while participating in important development agreement negotiations.
It will be a busy year, but Flynn doesn’t mind.
“I like the fact that I’m working with people who are actually physically build-ing the city,” he says. “I’m very proud of our city and grateful to be affiliated with these people.”
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Cmovers & shakers
48 | September/October 2009
visit us at www.cloverdalepaint.comto �nd out more about Cloverdale Industrial Protective Coatings
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f you’ve ever worked on a big industrial project in Alberta, you’re no doubt familiar with ATCO Noise Management. The full-service acoustical consult-
ing, engineering, and construction com-pany has carved out quite a nice niche in the industrial noise management business.
One of the keys people behind its suc-cess is Boris Rassin, a man described as a hands-on leader who’s innovative as well as creative.
“He comes up with incredible vision that we can all rally around,” says one long-time colleague. “He can articulate that vision extremely well.”
BORIS RASSIN › Executive VP of Business
Development
› ATCO Structures & Logistics Ltd.
i
› Filling the right niche with the right service pays off in a big way
The noise management business has come a long way since it was created 18 years ago while Rassin worked for ATCO Metal.
“We found ourselves in a sector that was really under-serviced,” Rassin notes. “Each project was built by a number of acoustical companies, all providing some little part of it. There wasn’t anybody who would do it all for a client.”
From working on such early projects as an acoustic barrier for Edmonton’s Groat Road, “we evolved into this business model that is full-service, turnkey indus-trial noise control,” he says. It couldn’t be done, he adds, without a great team.
And how is business? “Since 2003 we’ve quadrupled our
earnings and revenue,” Rassin says. “Our projects [have ranged] from small gas compressor stations to huge multi-billion power plants. Right now we’re building two massive power plants in New York state and one in Ontario.”
Rassin oversaw much of ATCO Noise Management’s growth through his role as president of that subsidiary and more recently also of ATCO Structures Canada/Alaska. This summer he became executive vice president of business development for ATCO Structures & Logistics Ltd., which includes the noise management and struc-tures units as well as ATCO Frontec.
The reorganization will allow Rassin’s company to offer a bundled service that includes turnkey workforce camps, and construction of acoustical metal buildings and other structures to clients, particularly those in the energy industry.
Rassin, who was educated as a civil engineer in Russia, came to Canada in 1980. He says his work with Atco started as a “four-week design job,” but he’s remained ever since.
“That was 24 years ago,” he laughs. “That’s the longest four weeks of my life.”
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movers & shakers
Alberta Construction Magazine | 51
JOHN HOLMLUND › President and CEO› Focus Corp.
› helping grow Focus Corp. into multi-disciplinary powerhouse through entrepreneurial thinking
hirty-two years ago, John Holmlund and two friends took an idea and a $20,000 loan and started HDS Focus Surveys Ltd. in Edmonton.
Today, that company is known as Focus Corp., a multi-disciplinary consulting firm that provides surveying, engineer-ing, and project management services to clients involved in oil and gas, oilsands, infrastructure, land development, and environmental projects. The Edmonton-based firm has 1,300 employees in 18 offices across western Canada.
With the exception of his tenure as board chair in 2006–08, Holmlund has been Focus’ president and CEO.
“Entrepreneurial thinking in the good times is easy,” Holmlund observes. “It’s in
t these tough times when money is tight and availability of projects is scarce that difficult decisions must be made quickly and with a purpose to ensure [that] the company remains sustainable for the long term.”
Throughout his career, Holmlund has been described as a keen advocate for the surveying profession. The culture of sup-port for professional development within the company is strongly evident.
Focus has been recognized numer-ous times, including as one of Alberta’s Fastest Growing Companies (2002 and 2003, 2005–08); one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies (2002–04); winner of Work Safe Alberta Best Safety Performer Award 2004–07; one of Alberta’s Top 35 Employers (2007 and 2008); one of Alberta’s Top 40 Employers (2009);
and one of the Best Employers for New Canadians (2009).
Focus also has a reputation for giving back to the community. For example, Golf For Kids, which Focus co-hosts, has raised more than $1.5 million to date for child-oriented organizations.
Holmlund, too, is no stranger to giving back—either of his time or his money. In addition to volunteer work, in 2008 the Holmlund family donated $500,000 to the University of Calgary’s Department of Geomatics Engineering to launch the Holmlund Research Chair in Land Tenure and Cadastral Studies.
This past June, the university conferred an honourary Doctor of Laws degree on Holmlund to recognize his contribution to business in Alberta.
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52 | September/October 2009
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PAUL VERHESEN › President › Clark Builders
› Charting a clear course by focusing on core values and open dialogue
aul Verhesen, president of Ed monton-based Cla rk Builders, is a man who “lives, breathes, and leads this com-pany by our core values,” says
a colleague who nominated him as one of this year’s Movers & Shakers.
And what are Clark Builders’ core val-ues? They’re summarized in these three words: Respect. Communication. Trust.
Respect is important because it knows that relationships drive the company. Good communications lead to win-win outcomes. And it’s difficult to work with others without trust. “It’s not only as a company that these values should be embraced, but also as individuals, every-day, all day,” Verhesen has said.
Verhesen understands the value of an open dialogue with employees, so it
p
should come as no surprise that he writes his own weekly blog—“some insightful, some encouraging, some just plain ol’ funny,” says his colleague. Staff response is encouraged.
“I would not have stayed with [the com-pany] for 10 years if I did not believe that the culture was honest, supportive, and visionary,” one blog reader responded. “I especially like the idea of a company tak-ing responsibility for the continued educa-tion of its employees. I am often trying to figure out how I got to be in the position I find myself, and where I would like to go next in my career, but I couldn’t think of a better group to pursue those dreams with.”
Under Verhesen’s leadership, Clark Builders has dramatically grown its rev-enues and staff size. In fact, the 35-year-old company is currently building a new headquarters off Whitemud Drive in Edmonton.
As well, the company has won numer-ous awards with Verhesen at the helm. In 2008, Clark Builders was named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC Commercial Banking, the National Post, and Queen’s School of Business, and was recognized for construction innovation in Canada’s Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards program.
One other item of note is CB University, another Verhesen initiative. CB University is a leadership program that was launched last October. It was created around mod-ules that focus on the individual, the team, and the community.
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movers & shakers
Alberta Construction Magazine | 55
www.owenscorning.ca
12007 EnerQuality Corporation New Home Buyer Survey. THE PINK PANTHER™ & © 1964-2009 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. The colour PINK is a registered trademark of Owens Corning. 60% recycled content applies to Canadian PINK FIBERGLAS® and QuietZone® Insulation product. ENERGY STAR® is a registered trademark of the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency. The ENERGY STAR® mark is administered and promoted in Canada by Natural Resources Canada and is used with permission. The GREENGUARD INDOOR AIR QUALITY CERTIFIEDSM Mark is a registered certif ication mark used under licence through the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute. Owens Corning PINK insulation is GREENGUARD Certif ied for indoor air quality, except bonded loosef ill products. R-2000 is an off icial mark of Natural Resources Canada. © 2007-2009 Owens Corning. All Rights Reserved.
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CHRISTINE DELLA COSTA› Team Lead, Pollution
Prevention and Conservation
› Alberta Environment
› Developing initiative to recycle construction and demolition waste
bout 25 per cent of the waste that goes to municipal land-fills comes from construc-tion and demolition (C&D).
“In 2006 alone, more than 850,000 tonnes of C&D waste went into our landfills,” says Christine Della Costa, team lead, pollution prevention and conservation, Alberta Environment.
Della Costa is working to change that, leading an initiative to create a provin-cial recycling program that will, once all the hurdles have been cleared, see much of this waste diverted from landfills. If approved, the provincially regulated program will be the first of its kind in Canada and could be launched in 2010.
a “It’s challenging because there’s so
many details that we have to figure out as we go along,” Della Costa says. “But that’s one of the things that I find makes it a lot of fun too.”
A former park ranger and environ-mental educator, Della Costa has spent the past six years developing policy or regulations to reduce the waste going into provincial landfills as mandated by the province’s overall waste strategy, Too Good to Waste.
Her experience developing other recycling programs, including Alberta’s electronics recycling program, will help ensure this new program works for all stakeholders in practice and not just in
theory. Consultation with experts and parties that might be affected by the program is a big part of her job, and she’s delighted with the level of indus-try participation.
“They really have this ‘roll up your sleeves and figure out how to get ‘er done’ mentality, which is great,” she says of the industry members she works with.
“If there’s something they think is unworkable about what’s being pro-posed, they’re quick to tell me that, but also to suggest other possible solutions. The on-the-ground expertise provided by people working in the industry is also crucial as the program is developed.”
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• Cast in Place Piling• Shoring• Low Overhead Piling• Tight Access• Drill to 135 ft Depth• Certificate of Recognition
Serving the industry for over 22 years.
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BILL FLAIG › President and CEO› Graham Group Ltd.
› Focusing on increasing efficiency, teamwork, and system development
ill Flaig, Graham Group Ltd.’s new president and CEO, has no qualms about taking the reins of a multi-million-dollar company at the beginning of
a year some claim is the worst ever seen.While acknowledging demand is down,
he sees fluctuating demand as just one of the challenges of doing business and says that, thanks to planning and a focus on building long-term relationships, Graham is well-positioned going forward, with sev-eral significant projects starting.
A strong believer in constant improve-ment, Flaig says this period is ideal for
B
focusing on increasing efficiency, as well as building a strong team and system development. His vision is a bigger, bet-ter Graham, an employee-owned company that already has a strong reputation and is highly regarded.
Flaig has held numerous positions in the industry, starting as a general labourer in high school and working as an estima-tor, project manager, branch manager and divisional VP before taking on high-profile positions such as operational president and executive VP.
He views the hands-on experience he’s gained in each role as key to his success. “Hands-on experience has allowed me to understand, appreciate, and certainly gain the respect of those I work with, literally from the ground up,” he says.
With over 38 years of experience, Flaig has a wealth of knowledge that benefits Graham and the industry. Participation in numerous industry organizations at the provincial and national levels, including director of the Canadian Construction Association, allows him to continue improving as an individual as well as learn best practices to improve Graham, all while giving back to industry.
He’s also committed to giving to the community, most recently arranging Graham’s donation of expertise, labour, and resources to renovate Hospice Calgary’s new building.
Ultimately, it may be Flaig’s passion for construction that makes him stand out. Asked about career highlights, he’s reluctant to choose anything specific. Says Flaig: “I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time in this industry.”
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movers & shakers
Alberta Construction Magazine | 59
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& projectspeople, products
Does your company have news about personnel changes or new products? Or did it just land a new project in Alberta? we want to know about it. here’s how to get your news to us.
email items tO: [email protected]
or send it tO:Editor, Alberta Construction Magazine,6111-91 St. Nw, Edmonton, AB T6E 6V6
or Fax tO: (780) 944-9500
Please include the full name and location of the company.
hOw TO suBmIt Items
TABLE Of CONteNtsComfort and portability ............................ 62Engineer founds green group ................ 62EllisDon’s new division ............................... 62Panels can take a pounding ..................... 63Lights to withstand the cold .................... 63A smart way to strip .................................... 63
CALGARY COMPANY TO RECYCLE SHINGLESNext year, a Calgary company plans to recycle asphalt shingles removed from homes during re-roofing for use in road asphalt production.
Eccopave Inc. says that when its pro-cessing facility is up and running, up to 40,000 tonnes of used shingles could be diverted from landfills. Phase 1 of the venture—the collection and stockpiling of tear-off shingles that are being stock-piled—has already started. Phase 2— the sorting and grinding of shingles into the recycled product—will be begin next year.
Shingles will be ground into a powder-like substance that will become an addi-tive used in road asphalt production. The material can also be spread on unpaved roads to control dust, the company says.
Eccopave is a subsidiary of Ecco waste Systems LP, a 16-year-old Calgary firm that was founded by four environmentalist engineers.
Eccopave expects to hire about a dozen laborers and machine operators and up to eight support and administrative personnel.
for more information about Eccopave, visit www.eccopave.com.
AN END TO LEAKY VALVESOne of the newest innovations in toilet technology could solve the problem of toilet leaks, stuck-open flappers, and leaky fill valves. It’s called the h2Orb.
If a toilet begins to run excessively, the h2Orb’s integrated smart valve intercepts the flow of water to the toilet. Also, if the water level in the bowl gets too high, the h2Orb shuts off the water supply. The device has an alarm and vis-ible control panel screen that can alert users of the fault.
The h2Orb is the brainchild of California company AquaOne Technologies LLC and is available over the Internet via theh2Orb.com.
Management consulting and research firm Zweigwhite has named one Alberta-based business—Group2 Architecture Engineering Ltd. of Red Deer—and two other firms with Alberta offices—Enermodal Engineering and Golder Associates—to its 2009 hot firm List of the fastest-growing architecture,
MAKING THE SWITCH FASTERThe design of Lenox’s new Snap-Back Arbor allows hole saws to be switched out much quicker than many arbors on the market. The sleeve doesn’t need to be held back to engage/disengage the arbor and requires no secondary tightening, eliminating the need for yet another tool on the job.
The Snap-Back Arbor has a versatile design that features drive-off pins to allow easy attachment and detachment from the saw with no need for adaptors. The drive-off pins also prevent the arbor from tightening on the saw during use, which in turn prevents threads from stripping.
for more information, check out lenoxtools.com.
engineering, and environmental firms in the United States and Canada.
The only other Canadian company on the list was MTE Consultants Inc. The list is based solely on gross revenue for both fiscal year 2005 and fiscal year 2008, as verified by financial statements or income tax returns reviewed by third parties.
HOT FIRMS SINGLED OUT
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The h2Orb.
Alberta Construction Magazine | 61
• Asphalt Paving • Roadway Maintenance • Industrial Site Services• Bridge Maintenance & Construction• Aggregate Sales
701 - 25 AvenueNisku, AB, T9E 0C1Ph: (780) 955-5545Fax: (780) 955-8623
260, 720 - 28 Street NECalgary, AB, T2A 6R3Ph: (403) 543-0305Fax: (403) 543-0314
PO Box 5653Ft. McMurray, AB, T9H 3G6Ph: (780) 743-2499Fax: (780) 743-2495
Carmacks Enterprises Ltd.
www.carmacksent.com
EllisDon has launched a new division that will offer several different intel-lectual capital consulting services to the broad construction industry. The division is called EllisDon Construction Consulting Services.
BernzOmatic says its recently introduced BZ8250hT Trigger Start hose Torch is not only one of the most advanced torches on
the market today, but it is also the com-pany’s most comfortable and port-
able torch yet. One of the reasons for this, says the company, is that the five-foot hose and fuel cylinder holster make it much easier to manoeuvre and work
in hard-to-reach places.
Like other BernzOmatic torches, the Trigger Start hose Torch has a brass regulator that’s pressure-regulated to burn in any direction. It also comes with a stainless steel burn tube. The on/off trigger igniter enables simple, one-handed operation, and the adjustable flame-control knob easily allows the user to size the flame for specific uses. It also includes a lock button to keep the torch lit for finger-free use.
More information is available at bernzomatic.com.
COMFORT AND PORTABILITY
The group will meet monthly over lunch at the Danish-Canadian Club in Calgary. Its first meeting is Sept. 10 with Mike Carten, CEO, chair-man, and co-founder of Sustainable Energy Technologies Ltd. Dan Balaban, president and CEO of Greengate Power Corp., will speak Oct. 6.
you can learn more about the group at SID21C.com.
Nattalia Lea, a Calgary-based engineer, author, and entrepreneur, has founded a group focused on sustainable industrial development.
Lea describes Sustainable Industrial Development for the 21st Century as a “net-working group of business and industry lead-ers, architects, engineers, entrepreneurs, and other individuals/groups with an interest to foster sustainable industrial development.”
ENGINEER FOUNDS GREEN GROUP
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The Trigger Start hose Torch.
ELLISDON’S NEW DIVISION
people, products & projects
62 | September/October 2009
• Asphalt Paving • Roadway Maintenance • Industrial Site Services• Bridge Maintenance & Construction• Aggregate Sales
701 - 25 AvenueNisku, AB, T9E 0C1Ph: (780) 955-5545Fax: (780) 955-8623
260, 720 - 28 Street NECalgary, AB, T2A 6R3Ph: (403) 543-0305Fax: (403) 543-0314
PO Box 5653Ft. McMurray, AB, T9H 3G6Ph: (780) 743-2499Fax: (780) 743-2495
Carmacks Enterprises Ltd.
www.carmacksent.com
Georgia-Pacific Gypsum’s new DensArmor Plus Impact-Resistant Interior Panels have been created for high-occupancy buildings, such as offices, hospitals, dormitories, and other pub-lic buildings.
following strict surface abrasion and soft body impact test-ing, in line with the ASTM International classification (ASTM C 1629), DensArmor Plus Impact-Resistant panels achieved a level three for both, which is the highest level for abrasion and impact resistance under the standard. ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards development organ-izations and serves as an industry source for technical stan-dards regarding materials, products, systems, and services. DensArmor Plus Impact-Resistant panels also achieved a level two classification for hard body impact resistance and a level one classification for indentation resistance.
DensArmor Plus Impact-Resistant panels resist warping, rip-pling, and buckling, and they install just like regular gypsum drywall. The company says the panels are easy to cut and can be installed with standard drywall tools and fasteners.
for more information, visit www.gpgypsum.com or call 1-800-387-6823.
A SMART WAY TO STRIPThere’s a new paint stripper on the market that bills itself as eco-logically friendly.
Dumond Chemicals Inc. says its Peel Away brand Smart Strip product is water-based, 100 per cent biodegradable, contains no volatile organic chemicals, and is ph-neutral. Smart Strip is applied using a brush, roller, or conventional airless spray.
Up to 15 layers of coatings can be removed from any interior/exterior surface in a single application, the company says. It is sup-posed to be excellent for intricate carved or molded surfaces and is effective on virtually any surface including wood, brick, metal, concrete, stone, plaster, or fibreglass. And, because it is not made with methylene chloride, Smart Strip will not burn your skin.
Check out peelaway.com to learn more.
The TaigaNova Eco-Industrial Park development in fort McMurray will install a solar-powered lighting system that has been specially designed to withstand temperatures that drop below -40°C.
The system, which will cost nearly $50,000 and be oper-ational in October, uses ultra-efficient LED lights. The manu-facturer is Canadian company Carmanah Technologies Corp.
PANELS CAN TAKE A POUNDING
LIGHTS TO WITHSTAND THE COLD
people, products & projects
Alberta Construction Magazine | 63
construction CVCAREER PROfILES IN ThE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRy
by Kelley Stark
YOU’VE WORKED IN THE INDUSTRY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES YOU SEE FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY?I see similarities more often than differences. The differ-ences are what intrigue us about another place, but it’s the similarities that point to where the solutions might lie. At SAIT, we have just set up a full semester exchange between our Architectural Technology program and one at Box hill Institute in Melbourne, Australia. when I was in Australia last year trying to figure out how we could do this, it seemed like the differences were so great that there was no way we could work some-thing out. The construction methods are very different between our two countries; in Canada we work to keep the cold out, in Australia, they work to keep the heat out. The particulars of how we do this will be different, but the problem is really the same. This is how we can learn from each other.
It is my hope that the stu-dents realize they have something in common with a culture half way around the world. Today, because of the Internet, we have the means to communicate in real time with anyone on the planet. we are part of a global com-munity and we speak the
common language of archi-tecture. This could lead to new partnerships, friends, and colleagues. I believe that in the foreseeable future, 24/7 architectural offices with consultants and part-ners in multiple time zones and continents will become the norm, and not the exception.
WHAT CAN YOU TELL YOUR STUDENTS ABOUT THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES THEY WILL FACE?we work in an industry whereby adaptability is key. we must be adaptable from office to office, city to city, and country to country. we must also be adaptable when the economic climate changes as it has in the last year. I tell my students to look for the opportun-ities when faced with these challenges.
WHAT IS THE FAVOURITE PART OF YOUR JOB?There is no greater rush than witnessing the transforma-tion of students over the course of the two years they are with us. They arrive as eager individuals and they leave as lifelong colleagues. I am also part of a great team of instructors. we are forever brainstorming and working to improve the program for our students, learning from each other, and having a lot of fun in the process.
Although I work in a very large organization, I feel I have a voice and am heard—that my point of view is lis-tened to and appreciated.
WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR BECOMING A TEACHER?we have all been teachers at some point in our lives and careers. I always knew
that one day, I would for-malize this role. Teaching is not about giving informa-tion to a group of students and testing them on it. Teaching is about lighting a fire and helping them find their passions. for some, it is architecture, for others, it might be something else out there…they just need to find it.
NAME: Marc Bussiere AGE: 50
TITLE: Architectural Technology instructor
ORGANIzATION: School of Construction, SAIT Polytechnic
EDUCATION: Master’s of Architecture, Bachelor of Environment Design Studies, Dalhousie University; BA, University of Alberta; Architectural Technology diploma, NAIT
64 | September/October 2009
hen Ron Adams told his wife he wanted to be independent of busi-ness within about 10 years, he was
president, CEO, and sole owner of Con-Force Structures Ltd.
That was almost a decade ago. At the time, Adams, who was approaching 50, had been in the precast concrete business for more than a quarter-century.
Adams, who’s now 59, achieved his goal of divesting himself of ownership of Con-Force two years ago, when the firm sold for $120 mil-lion. He is still involved with the company,
Business succession planning can provide a road map for a prosperous retirementby Godfrey Budd
EXIT strategyw
Alberta Construction Magazine | 65
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serving as president of Con-Force—now a wholly owned division of Armtec Limited Partnership—and as an executive VP of Armtec. And although the transfer of ownership to a successor went well, it required a fair amount of expert advice, planning, and time.
Owners planning retirement and con-sidering a transfer of ownership have three main options to choose from when finding a successor to continue operations of the business: family members, inter-nal management and/or employees, or an outside buyer.
As Adams contemplated his first steps to retirement a decade ago, he was convinced that the company had lots of opportunity for growth. At the same time, he didn’t want to draw on his own capital to make the necessary investment.
Still, Adams wanted the company to continue to grow and do well. “I didn’t want to hold the company back,” he says, “but wanted to hold some equity in it. This was on my mind for two or three years. It took me a while to decide to sell. Then the question was, how do you sell the company without interfering with busi-ness operations? So I asked some mentors for advice.”
In 2005, TriWest Capital Partners, a Calgary-based private equity firm, bought 70 per cent of Con-Force and kept Adams on as a partner with a 30 per cent stake.
business of building
66 | September/October 2009
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“With TriWest, we re-invested and grew the business successfully,” Adams says.
He says that when a company is owned by a private equity firm, “you can expect it to sell typically within five to seven years.” But after only two years, Armtec made an offer to buy 100 per cent of Con-Force. A deal was soon finalized.
“Armtec asked me to stay on to run the Con-Force division for a minimum of two years,” Adams says. The deal has worked out well, he says. Con-Force has “effectively tripled its size,” expanded its product lines, and now has a presence across Canada, rather than just in the western provinces.
“Everyone has won,” Adams says.To be sure, not every enterprise had the
advantages of Con-Force in the mid-2000s, a successful medium-size manufacturer of concrete products operating during a construction boom. All the more reason, perhaps, owners should prepare a business succession plan.
No strategyAccording to a CIBC World Markets study, more than half the country’s small business owners are expected to retire between 2005 and 2020 as more baby boomers enter their golden years. (The study defines small business as having between 1 and 15 employees and revenues under $5 million for 2003.) But there’s cause for concern.
business of building
Alberta Construction Magazine | 67
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“Only two in five small business owners have a clear plan for exiting their business,” the study says.
The study also makes the point that delaying the start of the succession pro-cess only compounds the owner’s dif-ficulties: “Moreover, at this stage of the game, a small business strength—the reli-ance on the human capital of the owner in almost every aspect of the business—is also becoming its primary weakness, since it means that adequate succession plan-ning requires time that is often measured in years, not days or months.”
In Alberta, the construction indus-try’s small business sector can expect the demographic trend of an aging popula-tion to come forcefully into play. In many North American jurisdictions, construc-tion often accounts for no more than 11 or 12 per cent of gross domestic product. But, in Alberta, in recent years, construc-tion has accounted for as much as 24 per cent of the province’s economic activ-ity. Furthermore, “about 40 per cent of businesses in Alberta will change hands in the next three or four years,” says Randy Koroluk, president of the Venture Exchange Ltd., a Calgary-based busi-ness brokerage. He adds that construc-tion accounts for about two-thirds of the business on his firm’s books right now.
Added pressureThe recent sharp economic downturn hasn’t made the process of succession any easier. Putting a business up for sale and then expecting a large cheque to come from somewhere could entail a very long
business of building
68 | September/October 2009
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wait these days, says Malcolm Scarratt, a financial advisor specializing in estate and small and family business succession planning with Castle Financial Group Ltd.
“It’s more complex now than before because of the difficulty today of getting financing—especially in the construction sector,” he notes. Mostly, if the business won’t finance its own purchase, it will never be bought. So, ultimately, the per-son who founded the business is typically the person who finances the sale.
This ticks some people off, says Scarratt, author of The Advisor’s Guide to Business Succession Planning, and a fre-quent seminar presenter to advisors and their clients.
Despite such apparent cold comfort for business owners on the cusp of retire-ment, there are a host of financial tools and tactics to save on taxes and reduce the risks involved in financing the transfer of ownership. Estate freezing, for example, involves a process in which some or all of a business’s assets, whose growth in value could cause extra tax and succession costs, are exchanged for similar assets that are fixed in value.
Scarratt emphasizes that choosing financial devices to ease the process of succession is ultimately secondary—a tactic that supports one’s goals and over-all succession strategy. Instead of talking spreadsheets and numbers, the business owner planning retirement has to begin by answering the question, What do you want to retire to?
Once the plan is in place, you can focus on tools and tactics.
There are a host of financial tools and tactics to save on taxes and reduce the risks involved in financing the transfer of ownership�
business of building
Alberta Construction Magazine | 69
Increasing security on construction sites is one way contractors can make the most of slower periods.
“There are opportunities for due dili-gence,” says Sgt. Mark Dumont of Calgary Police Services Crime Prevention Unit. “Now is the time to really implement your security measures—when it’s not as busy.”
Dumont deals with new home con-struction site theft but says the basic con-cepts of site security apply to larger sites as well. Many of the tactics are common sense activities, such as maintaining key control by keeping a log of keys and their users, that are hard to keep up when struggling to stay on schedule during busy periods.
Theft of expensive heavy equipment, materials and tools may also increase due to the recession, observes Joe Wilson, a security expert with Sonitrol who is based in British Columbia. (Sonitrol has offices in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, and Lethbridge.) But he adds that construc-tion sites are always vulnerable.
“Vandalism, I’ll suggest, is a greater risk than actual theft,” Wilson says. “They’re getting inside and they’re kicking in doors and windows and walls. Opening up water valves and flooding the place. Starting fires. They think it’s fun.”
Wilson has seen many criminals in action on construction sites thanks to
his company’s SonaVision monitored video, a system that allows police to catch the bad guys immediately. Infrared video cameras and motion detectors are mounted on poles around the perim-eter. If heat and motion are detected, the cameras send video to the Sonitrol Operations Centre, where staff mem-bers check for a person or vehicle then alert police.
“Police response across North America is documented at between three and five minutes,” he says.
The technology solves several prob-lems. Other video cameras may record the crime, but often police are unable to
TIGHTENING UPConstruction site security takes on greater importance as recession lagsby Tricia Radison
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Joe Wilson is a security expert with Sonitrol.
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70 | September/October 2009
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Cameras and motion sensors like these can be placed around a construction site to detect intruders.
act due to image quality or because the criminal has already escaped. Guard dogs are a pain and, says Wilson, can be befriended or immobilized. And security guards are only human, potentially falling asleep or simply unable to keep an eye on the entire site.
Wilson advises sites be kept dark at night. The reason: A lit site allows thieves to window shop before striking and makes it easier to navigate the site dur-ing the robbery.
Says Wilson: “Civilians think light deters because you’d never go out on a site that’s all lit up; somebody might see you. A criminal doesn’t care.”
These suggestions from Michael J. Arata Jr., security expert and author of Construction Site Security, can help pro-tect your materials and equipment.❚ Line up your heavy equipment so
you, your crew, and even police driv-ing by can immediately see if some-thing’s missing.
❚ Use kill switches on heavy equip-ment so machines can’t be hotwired.
❚ Regularly walk the perimeter to check fencing for holes or spots where it may have blown over.
❚ Consider portable, motion-sensor lighting and closed circuit TV cam-eras, especially on large sites.
❚ Arrange for on-site security person-nel who can alert police as soon as the site is breached.
TIPS fOR seCurING YOur sIte
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Alberta Construction Magazine | 71
5 SMART TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR BUILDING’S SECURITYby Tricia Radison
Whether you need a whole new system or are considering a few upgrades, here are five things to keep in mind as you look at improving your building’s security.
Investigate, investigate, investigate. A plethora of products and systems are on the market today. Many are avail-able online. Not all of them work. More importantly, not all of them will work for your security requirements.
Ryan Kurtz, owner and president of James Security Ltd. & Investigations in Lethbridge and Edmonton, recommends determining the goals of your system before buying, then investigating individual ser-vice providers and types of equipment.
“You have to do a lot of research,” he says. “If you don’t, you’re going to get caught up in a lot of junk.”
1Choose reputable companies rather than particular products. Installation is important for the proper functioning and longevity of security equipment. Ensuring you are working with a reputable company will guarantee that the products work.
“If you go into any building and lift the tile up in the wall where the camera is, you can tell the quality of workmanship from the way they’ve laid the wires, the way they’ve got it tied up,” Kurtz says. “It tells you they’ve got that extra quality, that extra care, the attention that people want.”
2Upgrade to wireless. Security systems communicate through phone lines, and criminals know it. A quick snip of the wires and the system can’t let the mon-itoring station know what’s going on.
New cellular technology avoids the problem. When the lines are cut, the cel-lular device communicates with the mon-itoring station through the cell towers.
It’s definitely a good investment, espe-cially for businesses where phone lines are exposed,” says Shawn Lazaruk, VP of Telsco Security Systems Inc. in Edmonton. While a tiny percentage of his customers ever experience a break-in involving cut phone lines, the number of incidents has risen dramatically in the last year, from 1 in 2008 to an estimated 10 as of July 2009.
The cellular option can be added to your current security system in most cases.
34Put someone on watch. Installing cam-
eras will catch thieves in action, but that’s cold comfort as you stand watching a recording of a break-in fourteen hours after the criminals have made their escape.
Kurtz recommends hiring a guard ser-vice to watch what’s going on. “Let’s make it more efficient so you’re going to catch people right away, because you have that human response,” he urges.
5Analyze new technology. It’s no sur-prise to learn that security technology is rapidly evolving. Some video surveillance products now have the ability to analyze what they’re recording, and determine, for example, if something moving on your property is a human or just a rabbit.
To take analytical ability a step fur-ther, you can use building security prod-ucts that analyze information, which you can use to improve operations. Users can get double the benefit out of the system by using cameras to determine when, for example, a drive-through is busiest, and then use that information to help with staffing.
But Kurtz warns against using more technology than necessary. More technol-ogy can lead to more problems, so systems should be kept as simple as possible.
Alberta Construction Magazine | 73
trade talk
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The most impressionable art is behind the wall
DRY UPNew ideas on managing moisture put forth at building envelope conference
by Tricia Radison
Teamwork, careful consideration when it comes to design and materials, and a good maintenance program could help improve the performance of build-ing envelopes in this province, accord-ing to Kris Wall, associate of building science and restoration at Read Jones Christoffersen in Calgary.
“Building envelopes are causing a lot of grief out there,” Wall said in a presen-tation at the Building Envelope Solutions conference in Calgary in June. “Let’s design them properly to begin with and fix them properly in the end.”
Wall encourages everyone—from developers, owners, and tenants to designers, contractors, and operators—to work together to reduce moisture problems. He adds that there are signifi-cant benefits when the building envelope
consultant is brought on to the project during the design phase rather than when construction begins.
“When all the initial decisions have been made on the materials and meth-ods to be used, any recommendations going forward have implications,” he says. It’s much easier to incorporate con-sultant suggestions before everything has been priced.
Wall says there are four conditions that need to exist for moisture to become a problem: a source, a route to travel, a force that causes the moisture to move, and materials that can be damaged by mois-ture. The best defence is to deal with each of these conditions during design and con-struction, then monitor the envelope and conduct regular maintenance to prevent any of the conditions from developing.
Envelope design should provide what Wall calls the four D’s: deflection, drainage, drying, and durability. This means using overhangs and f lashings, providing paths for drainage, ensuring convection drying will occur, and selecting materials that are resistant to moisture damage.
One thing Wall would like to see more of in Alberta is the use of rain screen design in residential construc-tion. Mandated in Vancouver since the B.C. leaky condo crisis in the mid-1990s, rain screens aren’t widely used in Alberta residential buildings, primarily due to a perception that this is a dry province. In reality, Calgary has wind-driven rain intensity 2.3 times greater than that of Vancouver and short-term moisture loads 1.4 times greater.
Alberta Construction Magazine | 75
trade talk
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The rainscreen design approach is based on the belief that water is going to penetrate the exterior cladding at some point during the building’s life. Consequently, the exterior cladding ele-ments and joint sealants provide the first line of defence through surface drainage.
A secondary moisture barrier installed over the backup wall and a pressure moderated air cavity provides protec-tion against any exterior moisture that does get in.
Wall also recommends keeping a close eye on the envelope throughout the life of the building. “Early detection and repair of failures can save signifi-cant money,” he says.
A number of techniques can be used to spot problems, ranging from simple visual inspections to more complicated techniques such as thermographic scan-ning of the roof and walls to localize areas requiring further inspection, and removing cladding in some spots to see what’s happening to seals.
Creating a maintenance manual com-plete with easy-to-follow maintenance checklists and ensuring that it is fol-lowed can enhance the sustainability of the envelope. Developing and following the manual will ensure the systems are understood and properly maintained.
Another key point for owners, man-agers, and operators is to plan to replace materials before they actually fail. This means familiarizing yourself with the lifespan of everything from paints and coatings to sealants, waterproofing sys-tems, doors, and windows, and budgeting for timely replacement.
But it’s important not to fall into the trap of just plugging holes.
Says Wall: “Find out the real reason for a failure. If you’ve got water leakage problems, sealant isn’t your solution.”
Envelope design should provide the four D’s: deflection, drainage, drying, and durability�
76 | September/October 2009
trade talk
18012 - 107 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5S 2J5 • Phone: 780.455.1122 • Fax: 780.451.2152E-mail: [email protected] • Web Site: www.abconst.org
by Ken GibsonACA Executive Director
ACA PUShES INDUSTRy SERVICES TO GOVERNMENT
With over 1,900 member companies across Alberta, the Alberta Construction Association’s (ACA’s) role in serving the collective interests of membership at the provincial level continues to grow. Here are some recent highlights of ACA services for members in the association’s three areas of business: advocacy, promotion of indus-try standard practices, and promotion of a skilled construction workforce.
Provincial budgetACA was invited to provide ideas to the provincial government on the 2010 budget and beyond, in light of signifi-cantly reduced government revenues. ACA supports the government’s commitment to continue to invest in people and infra-structure. ACA cautions that a return to the instability of 2000–02 would nullify industry and government investments to build and maintain industry capacity. In fact, current market conditions suggest that 2009 and 2010 are the years to pur-chase construction services to provide good value to taxpayers. Given the con-
tinuing need to address our infrastruc-ture backlog, sustain industry capacity to address growth, and take advantage of favourable pricing, ACA urged the gov-ernment to consider alternate forms of financing and smart debt.
C&D materials diversion from landfillsApproximately 350 stakeholders attended consultations held in June across Alberta concerning the proposed provincial stewardship program for diverting con-struction and demolition (C&D) waste from landfills. Nearly 300 stakeholders responded with comments.
Ninety per cent of respondents sup-ported the concept of a provincially regulated C&D diversion stewardship program. A number of concerns were raised including feasibility in commun-ities with limited recycling infrastruc-ture, potential administrative complexity, cost, and enforcement issues. ACA con-tinues to advocate industry’s position that industry leadership is critical to
address such concerns to ensure a stew-ardship program is effective, practical, and affordable.
Industry custom pricingThe Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) held an information session with ACA members from the Industrial Construction rate group to explain how industry custom pricing works. The ses-sion was in response to industry recom-mendations from the spring of 2008 to consider changes to experience rating to provide greater incentives to good per-formers. WCB suggested that the stan-dard performance pricing model could be customized for the rate group by changes to experience rating including adjusting maximum discounts and sur-charges, changing the experience ratio, and changing the participation factor. WCB also discussed the impact of remov-ing cost relief for claims with pre-existing conditions, and is polling employers about interest in further analysis of their indi-vidual situations.
Alberta Construction Magazine | 77
aca report
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Progressive release of holdback fundsMembers have provided plenty of com-ments in response to the proposed man-datory progressive release of holdback funds on major projects. There is gen-eral support for the concept, with differ-ing ideas on how to mandate the release schedule. A working committee led by the Construction Owners Association of Alberta is reviewing the ACA input.
Workforce planningACA is working with other industry asso-ciations and government to advance con-struction workforce strategies, through leadership in Building and Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce and the develop-ment of the Alberta Human Capital Plan. ACA’s message continues to be that invest-ment in our workforce needs to continue despite the recent downturn, in order to have the capacity to respond to the double whammy of increased activity and the aging workforce.
World Skills 2009As part of its sponsorship of World Skills 2009, ACA will run a trade show booth in partnership with the Calgary Construction Association. The booth will feature graphic and video images of projects, people, and technologies in construction, showcasing Building Information Modelling. A contest with a major prize will help drive youth traf-fic to the booth, with other takeaway items for all visitors. Contest entry will be tied to the Trade Up Careers in Construction website. The partnership with regional member associations will also be showcased.
In the July-August issue, Alberta Construction Magazine printed incorrect information from the Alberta Construction Association’s 41st Annual Golf Tournament. Our apolo-gies. To set the record straight, here are the photos and captions that should have run.
ThE rIGHt stuff
From left: ACA director Sean Penn, Alan Pole with Bruce Steel Fabricators, Ted Jones with Atlantic Industries, and Red Deer Construction Association president Wayne Gustafson.
From left: ACA Vice-Chair Colin Ward, Kirby Maronda, Lethbridge Construction Association second VP Darrell Bohle, and Lethbridge Construction Association Director Tom Caruso.
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aca report
by Amy SmithCommunications Coordinator, CCA
STUDENTS GET fIRSThAND LOOK AT SOUTh hEALTh CAMPUS
Students touring the South health Campus job site were impressed by the complexity of the project. Project director Scott Thompson indicated that this project is the first in the world to use the new innovative column-mounted support system, which was created in Germany by Peri Formwork Systems. The system assembles structural panels five times faster than conventional formwork systems.
This is one of two groups at the conclusion of their tour of the South health Campus. The tours were hosted by Project Director Scott Thompson (far right) and Superintendent Sam Poskovic (wearing orange vest), both from EllisDon.
Each year, the Ca lgar y Genera l Contractors Association (CGCA) recog-nizes Calgary area high school students who exemplify dedication and com-mitment to their construction studies. Construction technology teachers are asked to select a student that stands out and
CGCA then honours them with the Top Student Award in Building Construction. The award recognizes the skills and drive of the top students in high school shop classes, acting as an incentive for students to further their interest in the trades and go on to a successful career in construction.
On May 20, 16 high school students along with their Construction Technology teacher, their parents, and CGCA mem-bers were invited to experience something that the public doesn’t get the opportunity to do. They toured the construction site of the South Health Campus, being built in southeast Calgary with a completion date set for late 2011. Project Director Scott Thompson of EllisDon hosted the site tour. It is Canada’s largest-ever infrastructure project at $1.4 billion.
The highly anticipated hospital is so large that the Alberta Childrens’ Hospital, which EllisDon also built, could fit in the basement. Designed by Kasian Architecture, the hospital and surrounding courtyards will cover some of the 44-acre site. The hospital was built using leading-edge Building Information Modelling (BIM) technol-ogy, an innovative method to seamlessly bridge communication within the archi-tectural, engineering, and construction industries with 3-D modelling software. With BIM, digital representations of all stages of the building process simulate real-world performance, streamlining workflow, increasing productivity, and improving quality. The students, teachers, and parents said that it was an honour to tour such a monumental site.
Following the tour, CGCA hosted refreshments, provided hamburgers and snacks for students, parents, and teachers at the site. In partnership with the CGCA, Calgary Fasteners and Tools generously donated $100 gift certificates that were given to each student that was awarded “Top of the Class.” CGCA president Terry Bateman (Bird-Graham joint venture) closed the evening by thanking everyone for coming. Terry congratulated all of the top students and wished them well in their studies and their future, many of whom will be the future builders of Calgary.
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Alberta Construction Magazine | 79
cca report
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START ThE CONVERSATION ABOUT SAfETy TODAyby Megan StitchmanWorkers’ Compensation Board—Alberta
It was Joe’s first day on the job and he was excited. He wanted to work in construction since he was a kid. He got to work early, his lunch pail, steel-toe boots, and a willingness to learn in tow. As soon as he saw his foreman, Paul, he was put to work.
“Since it’s your first day, we’ll go with something simple,” Paul said. “We’ll get you to climb up that scaffolding there, and pass over some tools for the boys on the roof. Is that something you think you’ll be able to handle?”
Joe’s eyes followed up the steep steel bars of the tall scaffolding and the build-ing, finally settling on the tiny dots that were the workers on the roof. Then back to the face of his impatient new boss.
“Look,” said Paul. “Are you going up, or do you need an engraved invitation?”
Too afraid to ask any questions, moments later, Joe was cl imbing the scaffolding. He moved steadily upwards with a pack of tools on his back, his sweaty hands gripping the steel. Suddenly, he stopped and looked down. Way down.
“Why didn’t I say something?” Joe thought. “This doesn’t feel safe.”
For many new and inexperienced workers, situations like this are only too real. Most employers know better than to put a new worker in risky situations. However, many don’t anticipate that young workers may be too intimidated or scared to speak up. But taking that extra time to listen, they could prevent injuries or even death.
Statistics show that male workers ages 18 to 24 are three times more likely to be injured on the job than other workers. What’s more, most injuries occur within the first six months of employment.
It’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure that a work site is safe. What may be
common knowledge to the experienced worker may be new information to the young worker or new employee. Take the time to give safety a voice.
As an employer, follow the four A’s to make safety:1 A part of orientation. Ensure that
every new worker knows about safety processes, equipment, and personnel.
2 A part of every day life. Older, more experienced workers should act as mentors. There should always be someone on site who can answer safety questions.
3 An everyday conversation. Make it a habit to talk about safety on the work site.
4 A priority. It’s in everyone’s best interest to make sure young workers are equipped with safety knowledge.Encouraging young workers to speak
up and ask questions can prevent injur-ies. Let’s see how taking an extra couple of minutes helped Joe:
“So,” Paul said. “Do you have any question before you start work?”
“I’m anxious to get up there, but it looks like a really high scaffolding,” Joe replied.
You’re new on the job. And you may have fears.But that doesn’t mean you can’t speak up when
something doesn’t feel right. Talk to your employerand co-workers about safety. Speak Up —
Give Safety a Voice.
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Heads Up is a safety campaign that encourages young workers to give safety a voice in their workplace. Talking about workplace safety and facing fears can prevent injuries.
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hEADS uP
“Good point,” Paul said. “Let’s get you set up with some gear and a har-ness to make sure you’re safe. I didn’t even think to tell you about that.”
Make it easy for your workers to speak up for safety. Start the conversa-tion about safety today.
One of the posters that’s available from WCB-Alberta.
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Alberta Construction Magazine | 81
safety beat
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by Tim MavkoReynolds, Mirth, Richards, & Farmer LLP
whEN TIME IS Of ThE ESSENCE
I’m old fashioned (or maybe just cheap), but I like to borrow books and videos from our public library. And when I bring them back a couple of days (or…ahem…weeks) late, the worst that happens is that I have to pay a couple of bucks.
Compare that to dashing into an air-port five minutes late for a flight. Nothing will get you on a plane that’s already in the air. And depending on the airline and the ticket, you may have lost your fare too.
Clearly, different deadlines have dif-ferent consequences.
We build all sorts of deadlines into construction contracts. There are start-ing dates, interim milestone dates, notice dates, and, of course, completion dates. Depending on the contract, some of these deadlines may be more important than others, and depending on the circum-stances, missing some of these dead-lines may have much more serious—and costly—consequences.
At the simplest level, a deadline in a contract is a term of that contract. Missing the deadline means breaching the con-tract. And the law says that someone who breaches a contract must pay for the losses that reasonably result from the breach. This might mean a few dollars for some-thing minor (missing an early meeting), or thousands or even millions of dollars for a significant delay (missing a plant start-up). Indeed, construction contracts often have detailed delay and liquidated dam-ages provisions to deal with the fallout of missed deadlines.
What the law does not say, however, is that a missed deadline automatically ends a contract. Put another way, the innocent
party cannot usually just walk away from the contract just because the other side is late. If money can compensate for the delay, then the contract will usually con-tinue. The late party might have to pay damages, but the other party will still have to carry on to the end.
But in some cases, missing a deadline destroys the very benefit of the contract itself, making it meaningless to continue. And sometimes the parties themselves intend that if a deadline is missed, the con-tract can come to an end. In such cases, time is considered to be an essential term of the contract.
In those cases, where we want time to be such a fundamental and essential term, we have magic words we put into contracts to remove all doubt: “Time is of the essence.” When we see these words in a contract, we know that the parties are deadly serious about the deadlines.
Here is an example. The case is Howell v. Ridge View Development & Holding Co. It involved a contract to build a house. The contract said, as house building con-tracts often do, that the house was to be completed and ready for possession by a specified date. The parties also agreed, as part of the contract, that time was to be of the essence.
To pay for the house, the new owners got mortgage financing. But the financing was conditional on the builder finishing the house on time. If the house were late, the bank could cancel its commitment.
Well, the builder was late—by about a month and a half. The bank cancelled the mortgage commitment, so the owners could not pay. To make matters worse,
they weren’t able to sell their previous home. So they refused to complete the deal and pay for the house.
The builder sued. His position was that, although he was late, he had given reasonable notice and the owners were required to complete the purchase and take the house. When they failed to do so, he argued, they were in breach of the contract.
Alberta’s Court of Appeal found that the builder’s failure to finish on time constituted a fundamental breach of an essential term of the contract. By agree-ing in the contract that time was of the essence, the owner and the builder had attached considerable importance to the deadline. Moreover, missing the deadline in this case had serious consequences. The new owners lost their financing. For both these reasons, the court held the owners were entitled to cancel the contract.
Time, in this case, was of the essence.
What the law does not say is that a missed deadline automatically ends a contract�
Alberta Construction Magazine | 83
the legal edge
TIME CAPSULE
CLARKE STADIUMLong before there was Commonwealth Stadium, Clarke Stadium was the home of the Edmonton Eskimos football team.
The dream of Clarke field—named after two-time Edmonton mayor Joseph Clarke—began after the city acquired 26 acres in east-central Edmonton on a long-term lease in 1930. According to the City of Edmonton’s archivist, Michael Payne, Clarke led a campaign for a new sports field, and by 1935 as mayor, Clarke had the clout to push an even more ambitious plan for a stadium and ath-letic park forward.
Clarke’s plan, according to Payne, required both money and lobbying to secure support from dif-ferent sports organizations. he says that news-paper reports in 1938 indicated that the city had spent about $46,000 on the various facilities in the park, including recent expenditures of about
$7,000 for a football stadium with bleacher seat-ing for 2,040 people, dressing rooms for home and visiting teams, and parking for spectators’ cars.
Clarke Stadium served the city and the Eskimos—the Grey Cup teams of the 1950s with players like Normie Kwong, Rollie Mills, and Don Getty—well. According to Payne, a new west grandstand was built in 1954 that raised seat-ing capacity to 20,667. Seven years later, Clarke Stadium underwent another expansion that in-cluded 5,500 additional seats.
As was the case with other fields, Clarke Stadium did not limit itself to football games. It also played host to the Canadian Track and field Championships as well as other events like rugby and soccer games.
The stadium was the Eskimos’ home until Aug. 23, 1978, when the team moved to Commonwealth.
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time capsule
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Construction of a new set of bleachers nears completion in 1949 at Clarke Stadium.
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CONstruCteD: 1938
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Alberta Construction Magazine | 85
time capsule
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September 2009.
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Aecon Infrastructure Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Alberta Construction Safety Association . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside back coverAlberta Motor Association . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 27 & 67ATB financial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Beaver Plastics Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Bobcat Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Bolt Supply house Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Brock white Construction Materials . . . . . . . . . . 76Cad worx warehouse Inc Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Cal-Gas Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Cana Construction Co Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Canada Brokerlink Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Canadian welding Bureau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Canadian western Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Canessco Services Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32CanSource Lifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Carmacks Enterprises Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Christian Labour Association of Canada . . . . . . 50Cloverdale Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Concrete Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Concrete Solutions Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Consolidated Gypsum Supply Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . 72CORD worleyParsons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Davidson Enman Lumber Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85DfI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Dicks Boiler Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Double Star Drilling Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Durabond Products Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Electrical Contractors Association of Alberta . . 63EllisDon Construction Services Inc . . . . . . . . . . . 16Emco Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Graham Group Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12hertz Equipment Rental Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Icynene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74IVIS Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Lafarge Construction Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Laird Plastics (Canada) Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Land Measurement Systems Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Lloyd Sadd Insurance Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62LMS Reinforcing Steel Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Mantei woodcraft Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Merchandise Mart Properties Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Mount Royal College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Northern Alberta Institute of Technology . . . . 13Northland Construction Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . 11On * Site Equiupment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Owens Corning Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Petro-Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Pockar Masonry Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Polaris Laboratories LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Proform Concrete Services Inc . . . . . . . . . . 32 & 71ProstAid Calgary Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Rev Drill Sales & Rentals, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Reynolds Mirth Richards & farmer LLP . . . . . . . 58Singletouch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Skyjack Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside front coverSMS Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . outside back coverSound-Rite Acoustics Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Spatial Technologies Partnership Group . . . . . 41Steels Industrial Products Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Tenaquip Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6TIC - The Industrial Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37U f A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Volvo Rents Construction Equipment . . . . . . . . 50williams Engineering Canada Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . 22williams Scotsman of Canada Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . 24workers’ Compensation Board-Alberta . . . . . . 30
advertisers’ index
86 | September/October 2009
ACSA is pleased to offer the first ublic course of its kind anywhere:
LOSS PREVENTION AND CONTROL FOR EXECUTIVES
Who should take this course? Virtually every owner, executive
or senior manager in any company,
organization or institution should
enroll in this course.
How long is the course? This is a two day multi-media course
presented by legal and industry experts.
LOSS PREVENTION AND CONTROL FOR EXECUTIVES
Read what two distinguished professionals (who assisted in the course development) have to say:
Justice Robert A. Graesser Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta Law Courts Edmonton, Alberta
David Myrol, Partner Barrister & Solicitor McLennan Ross LLP Legal Counsel Former Crown Prosecutor, Alberta Edmonton, Alberta
Training for
Why should I take this course? We
have a whole team of safety professionals who
take care of safety and environmental matters.
I'm too busy managing the company.
A not-too-surprising response in this
demanding, fast paced economy we are
experiencing. But that response is exactly what
may get a busy executive and the company
into trouble if something goes wrong with the
systems in place.
Learn how you can help your company comply
with its obligations, and how you can avoid
personal liability.
This course offers a welcome opportunity for
executive managers to better understand the
responsibilities they and their companies face in
terms of the environment and safety of workers.
In the past these areas were commonly
delegated to specialists and then quickly
forgotten. Modern executives can ill-afford this
type of complacency.
The consequences of ignoring these realities
are serious and can lead to financial hardship
or ruin for the company and individuals
involved. Therefore, the question is not whether you should take this course, but whether you can afford not to?
SMS Equipment provides dedicated focus on the needs of the Construction, Forestry, Mining industries and Utility product users. SMS Equipment was created to provide customers with integrated solutions and to expand our service capabilities as a nationwide organization.
SMS offers the most extensive range of products, parts and services in the industry, available through a fully integrated network across Canada.
Highly qualified and dedicated people to support your productivity.
• Eastern Region : 800 881-9828 • Western Region : 866 458-0101
www.smsequip.com
